Insurrection
by Creen
Summary: If Yeerks could sleep, or dream... would they still be Yeerks? When a scientist of the Empire attempts to modify humans into the next race of warriors for the Empire, it encounters unexpected... side effects... especially when the prototype escapes... (with an unwilling passenger) and long held beliefs and assumptions are put to the test... Who will the true enemy be? READ please?
1. Chapter 1: Escape

**Esplin 469: **

The host body… oh, how I loved this body. The strength, the passions, the pain. I loved the pain the most. Not _my_ pain, mind you, but the host mind was in agony. Locked away in his own head. A weak, pathetic creature. He put on a brave face, but I could feel what he felt. He had lost hope… but he was still determined to kill me. Obsessed, really. It was amusing. Every morning he strained his feeble will against me, like a gnat trying to topple a mountain into the sea. Utterly pathetic. Admirable, much like the valiant efforts of the Andalites to stop us. We were a great ocean, and the Andalites were a crumbling sandbar, too stubborn to see the inevitable outcome of this glorious war. The glorious Yeerk Empire could not be stopped. Every month we pushed the Andalites a little farther back. Our triumph would be-

_((Inevitable? Can't you come up with something more original?))_ a voice whispered sarcastically.

Ah. Jacob. Dear Jacob…

_((You've been quiet for too long. I had thought you might have forgotten. No matter. Shall we begin this little charade?))_ I responded. The host mind raised his fists, and fell into a fighting stance. Not really, but that's the best way I can think of to describe his behavior. I flicked him back into the little corner of his own mind, like a dust mote, to curl in pain from my strike. The idiot thought he was getting _stronger_ the longer he struggled. As if the brain was a muscle to be exercised. How barbarically primitive. Now I would have several hours before the host mind could become coherently lucid enough to be annoying. I sat at my computer terminal, and continued working. I was the best geneticist in the Empire. With my brilliance, we would be able to roll over the Andalites. The Hork-Bajir are excellent shock troopers, seven feet tall nearly all of it reptilian bladed muscle. With Yeerk's in control of such bodies they're unstoppable, able to fight Andalite's to a stand still in hand to hand combat. But the Hork-Bajir are few, and they breed slowly. The Taxxon's make horrible warriors, and poor hosts. The Gedds are nearly useless in combat, aside from support troops armed with dracon beams… we needed more warriors, and I was _close_ to that goal… so close. After six years of research and computer modeling…

"Esplin 1894, where is my lunch?" I demanded. My Gedd assistant shambled into the room on its ungainly limbs, mutely delivering the processed meal. I dismissed the scientist. Esplin 1894 had _promise_, but was too meek to amount to anything. Raw intelligence was nothing without cunning. Without rank, Esplin 1894 would never be given work as vital to the empire as _mine_. Without ruthlesnness, Esplin 1894 could not gain rank… thus, I could use the scientist to fetch my meals… and organize my test data, but only _I_ could do the _real_ work.

I was frustratingly close, to finally tying it all together… then a claxon began to sound, and I stood from my workstation. A guard burst into my lab, "Andalites!" His beak clicked shut with an audible clack, and he readied his Dracon beam. I followed the warrior to the command center. I stared at the tactical screen on the wall. It was a small force. Scouts. Our shields were more than sufficient to withstand their weaponry while our Dracon cannon emplacement dealt with the lithe craft.

"They will be destroyed. Their weapons can't hope to pierce our shields." I started to turn back, to return to my lab, when I saw it. A hideous shifting mass was rising from the deck. Behind us. The guard didn't see. The taxxon technicians didn't see. It took me several long seconds to recognize it, as a tail blade emerged. Andalite!

"An-ghkst!" I gurgled. What was happening? Why had my voice failed? I tried again, but the keening alarm drowned out my half formed words. I was forming the words, why wasn't I making any noise? Had I been poisoned? I tried to move, to alert the guard. I twitched and swayed, bug-eyed. Then I felt a kernel of vicious satisfaction. It was primal, powerful, and _human_.

I heard laughter in my head. Wordless. Impossible! I reached out, and wrapped my hands around the pathetic, feeble human mind, and _squeezed_. Pain shot through me, even as I felt the human begin to cave beneath my strength. It was like trying to crush a thornbush. Entirely possible, but also very painful. I was stronger. I would win. I could feel the sudden, desperate strength of the human beginning to crumble beneath my implacable might. Then something slammed into the side of my head. As darkness took me, I heard, as if from across a great distance, "Shield disabled. Warning: Shield is down."

Then I fell into darkness, that damned human clinging to me, dragging me deeper into the murky depths, still laughing. I could only wait, blind, as the human body recovered from the head trauma. I seethed. I had indulged the pathetic human, and this is how he repaid me? I could have crushed him, but instead I let him snivel and, and… oh, there would be vengeance. When I regained consciousness… I felt the first pangs of the hunger. I had neglected to feed. Panic began to worm through me.

**Jacob Nyles: **

I was free. I was crippled, but free. I stared up into the night sky, able to move my eyes for the first time in years. I couldn't move my legs or arms… but I could move my eyes. I could move my eyes! I don't remember when I finally fell asleep, pinned beneath the girder. I was dying. It was a good death, better to be free… and I had done this. After years of pain and torture, that arrogant slug… he hadn't guessed what my plan was. He hadn't looked beyond the first layers of emotion. I hadn't been trying to get _stronger_, I had been learning a new _language_. When the slug was in my head, my body responded to a different language, a different program. I was learning the controls. Every time the slug beat me down, I learned a little bit more. I had no plan, suicide was out… I slipped in and out consciousness…

((()))

"I found a survivor!" someone called out. I tried to push the dream away. They wouldn't be quiet, and let me sleep. "Inform the Sub-vissor." a different voice replied. Didn't they know I was free? I was leaving this nightmare… They couldn't stop me. Everything went empty again for a long time…

((()))

Someone pressed against the inside of my head. I woke slowly. My eyes fluttered open, and looked around. They moved. But I hadn't moved them.

"This host body will serve." My lips spoke. A presence flipped through my memories, sifting through them. "The host retained some of Esplin 469's direct memories, and has extensive memories of observing Esplin's work." I stood in my mind, and looked my newest oppressor in the eye.

_((My name is Jacob Nyles.))_ I whispered.

The presence paused for a moment, confused.

_((I know. Why are you telling me?))_ the parasite asked.

((_My name is Jacob Nyles, and I will not be broken))_ I swore.

_((Listen, Jacob Nyles, I don't care who you are. This body, though, is mine now. I can tell how… sadistic… Esplin was. If you can remain civil, so will I.))_ the parasite said. I considered this. It was tempting. But I had tasted freedom… and it was still on my tongue. I felt despair threatening to wash over me, but I kept my head above the waves.

The parasite moved me and spoke, but I was preoccupied. I barely caught what the slug was doing.

**Esplin 1894: **

I studied the human, Jacob's, memories. It was not pleasant. My Gedd host hadn't been anything like this. It had been a host for so long that it was mindless. But this new body… this new body was vibrantly alive! The colors! The quick and easy balance of this body, I could stand upright. I loved it. I loved it all. The hands and arms were stronger than my Gedd had ever been. I felt reborn. I also felt very self-conscious. I wasn't used to having an audience. I delved into Jacob's memories as infrequently as possible, mainly because almost every memory of note was filled with pain, caused by Esplin 469. I felt it as Jacob had felt it. Esplin 469 had been arrogant and cruel… which was an enormous understatement. I felt… as if my new body had been sullied by its previous occupant… graffiti left on the walls, as it were.

Regardless, Jacob did not test me as he had tested my predecessor. Instead, he simply watched me resentfully, which was unnerving at times… although this made it easier for me to focus on my work, using Esplin 469's knowledge to bridge the gaps in my own understanding of the project… but there were so many conflicting variables, so many factors that interfered… it was not until the third month of inhabiting Jacob that I discovered the breakthrough Esplin 469 had uncovered, several minutes before the Andalite attack. _The immune system…_

With that knowledge, I reset the parameters of the simulation, and waited for the results eagerly. The computer modeling showed that the procedure could work…

_((You don't understand.))_ Jacob told me sadly.

_((Understand what?))_ I asked, distracted by my discovery.

_((Why you can't win. It's sad… even to me.))_ the human confessed.

I paused the simulation, curious, _((Tell me.))_

((When you look at the stars… what do you see?)) he asked. I glanced at the station's viewport, and saw the millions of pinpricks, the incandescent balls. Some had planets with species we could conquer, others were useless.

((You see no beauty. You see only resources to be exploited. The universe holds no wonder for you, only opportunity.)) Jacob told me. ((This is why you will lose. Look through my eyes.))

((I am.)) I reminded him.

((No, not _with_ my eyes. _Through _my eyes.)) he explained cryptically. I was confused, there was a difference? He showed me a memory. It was from when he was free, after the Andalite attack. I saw the stars in the sky above. He was in terrible pain from the damage to his body, but it was a distant, remote thing. He shielded me from that part, so that I could see what he meant to show me. His eyes had moved under his direction, staring at the stars. They had been… beautiful. I began to see what he meant. It was trivial, unimportant. Beauty was far less useful than strength. If it was useless to us, then it wasn't important.

((That's where you're wrong…)) Jacob whispered, and I realized that in letting him show me the memory, he had been able to see my reaction to it.

((There is beauty everywhere. In everything.)) he told me heavily, and sighed. I shrugged, and went back to my joyless simulations, troubled. I felt Jacob crouch on my shoulder, to watch. I had expected to feel triumph from him, since he'd upset me. I expected him to glory in it as he had when he foiled Esplin 469, and ultimately killed him. Instead, I felt only sadness from him. The upsetting thing was that it wasn't for himself. He was sad for _me_. I had no use for pity, let alone from others. I focused on my work. _This_ was what mattered, not the philosophical views of a host body.

I submitted the results to my supervisor, and within the week, the vissor authorized the procedure…

((So what exactly are you doing to me?)) Jacob asked, as the automated procedure progressed. I studied the medical sensor readouts. So far the test had proved positive. The body had integrated seamlessly with the organic implants… so far without rejection. The most important, of course, was the modifications to the adrenal glands, which now produced an _additional_ substance. _Kandrona._ Among all of the trifling and incremental increases to the physical capabilities of the host, _that_ was the single, pivotal advantage desired by my predecessor. Just as the Andalite's and their morphing technology was hobbled by the two hour limit, we were crippled by our three day cycle… but imagine, if we _had_ _no limit_.

((If all goes well, then your body will be evaluated for combat effectiveness, not to mention functionality)) I told him, distracted by the reports.

He was silent for several long seconds, then spoke again to me, ((Will they… put someone else in my head?)) he asked, strangely apprehensive. I paused, and scrutinized my host's thoughts. After a moment, I discerned the problem. Jacob had not grown _fond_ of my company, but he _had _adjusted to my thoughts and expressions. He had also grown somewhat complacent with me, in a way he had never been under Esplin 469's constant torture.

I was, for a moment, touched by the underlying sentiment. ((It's my body,)) I told him, in a strangely reassuring tone, ((and I'm important enough, at the moment, that they can't make me give it up if I don't want to))

Jacob bristled, but there was no heat… and although he didn't overtly say anything, I felt most of his apprehension fade.

As I predicted, Jacob showed no signs of rejection a full week after the procedure, and we moved on to the more… _violent_ aspects of the evaluation.

((()))

The visser watched imperiously as I maneuvered through the test. I scaled the climbing wall quickly, and dropped over the other side. My muscles weren't as fatigued due to the increased oxygen content available to them. I danced through the rotating ropes and cables, using the enhanced hand-eye coordination to grab and twist. Then came the hard part. A Hork-bajir warrior stepped forward, and fell into a ready stance. I used Jacob's memories, falling into a similar stance, resting on the balls of my feet, ready. Jacob's awareness came, and stood behind me, figuratively, at my shoulder, scrutinizing my opponent through my eyes.

((He's overconfident… and he favors his right side)) Jacob commented to me. I was startled by his assistance.

((Pay attention! He's about to feint!)) Jacob warned me.

I listened, and took a step back, letting the feint fall flat. The Hork-bajir pounced forward, and I reflexively slapped the bladed arm aside,

((Duck. Block low left. Step back, block high right. Lunge forward, parry left)) Jacob rattled off at me, and I listened, a little bit of lag because it was not completely instinctive. We continued to fight. I moved the body, but I listened to Jacob. It was faster than trying to sift through his memories to find the correct response. It wasn't ideal, but I wasn't well acquainted with his memories of combat. I had mostly studied his observations of Esplin 493's work. This wasn't a game though. One host body would either be dead, or severely damaged before this ended.

((You're too slow.)) Jacob observed, frustration boiling over as I reeled back, bleeding from a shallow cut across my chest. I wasn't winded yet, but neither was the other yeerk, and I could see the cold satisfaction in those reptilian eyes.

((You want to win, right?)) Jacob asked urgently.

((Yes)) I answered, obviously.

((Then let me fight)) Jacob urged.

((What?)) I snapped.

((Let _me_ fight him. You may not have much stake in this, but I'm the one who's life is on the line here))

I considered it. The Hork-bajir eyed me warily. I'd been motionless for several seconds. He thought it was a trap.

((Very well)) I agreed. I let go. I was still in his head, seeing everything, hearing everything, but I returned motor control to him. He instantly shifted his stance slightly.

The Hork-bajir brandished his forearm blades, and Jacob snarled bestially. Then he attacked. I realized now just how half-cocked I had been fighting. There had been a split second pause between each movement when _I_ had fought. There was no hesitation now. Jacob flowed from one movement to the next, a fierce joy burning in his chest. I felt what he felt. It was… confusing. I stood as his shadow, and for a moment, I _was _Jacob. I was wrapped up in his mind, like we were alternating threads in a piece of fabric. I saw how he saw, felt what he felt… for that moment, I was happy. Then I slipped, and fell free, no longer synchronized with my host's mind.

Wary of breaking Jacob's concentration, but wanting to feel that joy again, I lightly touched his awareness, trying to get a better feel for his thoughts. After initial resistance, like a spiderweb, I passed into Jacob's awareness, and froze.

It was a dance. I stood on Jacob's shoulder, and saw from his point of view once more. This conflict of flesh was much more to him. He was compelled, by his own values, to create beauty, even in this violent exchange. So he danced with his bladed adversary.

The Hork-bajir retreated slowly, no longer as aggressive, or as self-assured. Jacob danced in close, and got a hold of one of the warrior's arms, an impressive feat considering that the arm had sharp blades on it, and broke it. My fellow controller howled in pain, and I watched as the Hork-bajir was toppled, and Jacob came to a stop, crouched a safe distance away, should the test continue… but after a glance, I saw that the controller chose to submit, rather than risk losing its valuable host, and being relegated to a gedd or taxxon for its failure.

((Excellent work)) I said, and moved to retake motor control. For a split second, nothing happened, and that terrified me. Then I was back in control. I chalked it up as inexperience. Jacob retreated into his corner, and basked in the still fresh experience of freedom. A very emotional, non-logical creature. Next was the weapons proficiency. The target range held multiple holographic targets, and a set of hand Dracon beams was clipped into the nearby wall rack. I pulled one out, and checked the charge. I could feel Jacob looking over my shoulder, but ignored him. I aimed the Dracon beam, and prepared to start the trial.

"My name is Jacob Nyles, and I am _free_."

If I had a jaw, it would have dropped right then. What? Then I realized that I was moving, and it wasn't because of me. A second Dracon beam appeared in my other hand, and I heard the whine as it powered up.

"Esplin 1894, what are you doing?" the human Visser demanded, "only one Dracon beam is required for the demonstration."

My wrist snapped up, and a scarlet beam shot out, smashing the Visser into the bulkhead behind him. I tried to regain control, slamming against an opaque wall. I couldn't access Jacob's thoughts, his motor control… nothing!

((Jacob!)) I screamed, ((Stop!))

((No))

I could see and hear… and that was all! I was a prisoner in my own host! Jacob was running down a corridor now. He shot several startled controllers that we passed. It wasn't until I saw the engine room that I realized his plan. He did something out of sight, but I could hear a Dracon beam in a cascading critical overload. He slung one of his Dracon beams out under the main power conduit that connected the power core to the rest of the ship, and sprinted away. There was an explosion behind us, but he hardly slowed. The lights dimmed, then went to emergency back ups, and the gravity failed. Jacob pulled himself along the corridor wall with one hand, the other holding the Dracon beam up to aim, ready to fire at anything in his way.

I was being _abducted_. He shot two more guards, and floated into the central hanger. Bug fighters were resting in their cradles, ready to go at a moment's notice. He climbed into one, and began powering it up. His hands were clumsy on the controls, designed for Taxxons, who had dozens of pincers to manipulate the multitude of buttons and switches. He managed pretty well though, and hovered in front of the sealed hanger doors. He painstakingly turned the fighter, and reached over, double clicking the joystick from the weapons position. Dracon beams shot out, turning the unshielded fighters into slag. He torched all of the other fighters, then sealed the exterior hatch. Small arms fire rang on the hull before he brought the shields up. Stupid! Never show weakness to the host! All of this was my fault. I would be _executed_.

"Relax. I don't plan on getting captured," Jacob muttered. He fired on the hanger door, and it exploded, blown out by the pressure of the hanger. The Bug fighter shot out of the station's hanger, and towards deep space. Moments later, we transitioned into Z-space. Jacob slumped at the controls, and started laughing. It was the release of stress. Then he sat in the gunner's chair, designed for Hork-bajir, and considered me. It was a rattling experience. I had never been a prisoner before.

"Looks different from the other side, huh?" Jacob said. There was no inflection, and I couldn't read his emotions or thoughts. I didn't respond.

"What, now you don't want to talk?" he demanded.

((I have nothing to say to you.)) I sneered.

"Oh, come on, if our roles were reversed you would have done the same. I was born free, and I plan on dying free."

((I can survive indefinitely in you. I will never leave.)) I taunted.

"I can live with that. You'll just be my shoulder demon… unless the implant fails…" He laughed, giddy.

Panic was starting to creep through my calm, ((They'll hunt you down!)) I yelled.

Jacob stared off into the middle distance, and then I felt a window open in the wall. I crept up to it, and saw through the opening. Jacob was watching me from the other side.

((I have only Esplin to compare you to, but you've been… civil, to me. Or, at least as civil as a body snatching parasite can be.)) Jacob mused. I could see pieces of his thoughts, his emotions, but I wasn't getting the whole picture, just fragmented shadows.

((You think you can torture me for information?)) I demanded.

((I will never torture another creature.)) Jacob growled, red waves of anger pouring through the window, before he could reign his temper in. The window widened, and I fell into his side of the wall. I saw the thoughts he'd hidden from me in the final weeks. I felt his budding hope, his dreams of escape. He'd watched everything I did, learning.

I had never felt joy. True, I had felt satisfaction, pleasure… but never joy. Jacob shared that with me, whether he knew it or not, and then it was gone again. I was sitting outside his wall, like a wretch in the cold… and I _loathed _him. He said he would never torture anything, but he had lied. He tortured me with joy, giving me enough to know what it was to feel complete… and then abruptly taking it away again.

((()))

"So, any suggestions for avoiding our imminent death?" Jacob asked rhetorically, staring at the control panel of the bug fighter, flipping through Esplin 469 memories. A few of them did contain pertinent bits of information relating to z-space navigation and astrogation.

I remained silent. I had nothing to say to _him_. He could kill us, I acknowledged, but he couldn't make me help him.

**Jacob Nyles: **

Great, my little passenger wasn't speaking to me. I didn't _need_ its help, but I didn't feel too confident that my calculations, conducted using my pseudo-memories from Esplin 469, were flawless. We _should_ arrive back into realspace in one piece, but… I sighed. The initial rush of freedom had worn thin, letting my various aches and pains poke through. I healed faster than normal, yes, but I was no Wolverine, I couldn't heal the deep laceration across my chest in a matter of seconds. It would take days… just fewer days than before my augmentation.

"So, got any stories to pass the time?" I asked the empty air, popping a few of those disgusting ration pellets the yeerks stocked their ships with. I didn't even notice at first when the ship reverted to realspace. I _did_ notice when something hit us, slamming me face first into a bulkhead, "Shit!"

I scrambled to the flight station, once again wishing that Taxxons (the preferred pilot species of choice) used chairs. The screens alerted me to the presence of… things on the sensors. I couldn't read _galard_ (the basic language yeerks used to keep all of their different host species able to maintain communication) well enough to know what the computer was frantically trying to tell me, and Esplin 469 hadn't really spoken it much, preferring to use English instead, being a snotty prick to everyone else because _he_ had a human host.

I did know that the fading green outline around the bugfighter meant my shields were not in great shape. I threw the ship into a lazy corkscrew, dodging a few of the projectiles, but not all. The green line was blue now, whatever the hell that meant.

((It means we're going to die)) Esplin 1894 answered softly.

"You picked a _great _time to start talking to me," I snapped, tapping in a course change, wishing I had six dozen appendages to manipulate the controls, designed for Taxxons.

((You brought us out of Z-space in the middle of an asteroid field)) my passenger told me.

"So I guess you _are_ afraid of dying," I taunted, stress making my words sharper than I intended.

((I'm not afraid of it, but that doesn't mean I want to))

"How do I redirect power from weapons to the shields?" I asked.

((You want to live?)) Esplin 1894 asked quietly.

"I'd rather enjoy my freedom, yes,"

((Then let me do it)) it said simply, an echo to my request that had alerted me to my power. I paused for a moment. It had trusted me to win the fight. If I let Esplin take control, I might not be able to regain it. I wasn't quite sure how I'd seized it in the first place… also, if I let Esplin take over, I wouldn't know what it was doing to the controls. It might send a distress signal, lower the shields, blow us up… any number of things.

Another asteroid slammed into the weakening aft shield, almost collapsing it.

((You're running out of time)) Esplin said tightly.

"I… I can't," I said heavily.

((Then we die here)) the yeerk said in despair.

I frowned. "Can you do it with my left arm?"

((… yes…))

I, well, it's hard to explain. I relaxed my left arm, but in my head, sort of, and then, suddenly, someone else was moving it… a very strange experience. I tapped the controls, half crippled, with my right arm, maneuvering the craft was even harder now. Occasionally our arms got in each other's way.

((Look to your left more, I can't see what I'm doing)) Esplin hissed in annoyance, and I glanced to my left.

((Weapon energy re-routed, but it will only buy us a few minutes against asteroids in a field this thick)) Esplin told me grimly.

The line around the ship was yellow now, and very thick.

I pointed at a weird yellow triangle near the top of the screen, "What's this?" I asked. My left hand brushed my right hand aside, and tapped the symbol. An explosion of _galard_ and images filled a secondary screen nearby.

((It's a planet…)) Esplin told me, distracted.

"Can we land there?" I asked.

((It's within the field… no doubt a sister planet broke up nearby, or perhaps several moons—))

"Skip the astronomy lesson, can we make it?" I demanded.

((Yes)) Esplin said tersely.

"O_-kay_ then," I grumbled, and sent us towards the planet. I actually dodged some of the larger asteroids along the way.

Another rock slammed the ship, and the cockpit lights flickered, red status updates screamed across the screens.

((Port engine is crippled, as is our Z-space capability))

"English, please," I snarled, fighting the controls.

((We're crashing))

"_Great_, thank you, that's great news," I muttered.

((We're crashing right _now._ I can _land_ us.)) Esplin tried again.

"I can too," I said stubbornly, angling the ship to enter the thin atmosphere, reversing thrust on our last engine, trying to slow us down.

((You're acting like a child)) Esplin complained.

**Esplin 1894: **

Pride. I was going to die for some insignificant _monkey's_ pride. That rankled me. I tried to reassert control, but it was more of a displacement activity, a habit. Jacob didn't even notice my attempts. He corrected our descent too steeply, and I winced. This was going to hurt. Jacob overcorrected his earlier descent, and we sawed wildly to the left. It was like riding a see-saw. We were wiggling back and fourth, piloted by a _moron_.

Jacob picked up on that last part, and mentally snarled something at me. I drummed my fingers in the back of his head, and waited.

((()))

I was right. The crash hurt.

((()))

I watched one of Jacob's dreams, a rather strange, and disjointed affair, concerning a girl he'd dated during his high school years. Eventually, the pictures began to fade, and light returned to his eyes.

((()))

((It is about time you woke up)) I complained.

Jacob mumbled something uncomplimentary, and started taking stock. I silently catalogued as well. It was a depressingly short list.

**Jacob Nyles:**

I had a dracon beam, which was half depleted; enough of those terrible ration pellets to last me several _months_; enough water for a week, longer if I could find a way to power the recycling system.

((Emergency power is still operational, roughly 5%)) Esplin told me, surprised.

I groaned, and held my head. A migraine was starting to form.

((You have a concussion)) Esplin informed me.

"Really? You think?" I tried not to vomit. I failed.


	2. Chapter 2: Forged

**Jacob Nyles:**

((We should remain in the fighter)) Esplin warned.

I stared at the atmospheric reading, "This atmosphere is breathable though."

((Barely)) Esplin muttered darkly.

((Our best chance of leaving this planet is to stay with the fighter)) Esplin argued.

"You mean, recapture," I snarled.

Esplin subsided into angry thoughts shot in my direction, but said nothing else.

I popped the seals on the hatch, and grayish vapors slowly seeped into the cockpit. At first, my lungs felt like they were on fire, but after the first hour, the feeling began to dissipate.

"See? All better now," I said smugly. Esplin ignored me.

I held the dracon beam, and climbed out of the crashed fighter. This planet was… misty. I felt like I was walking through a cloud. The ground was covered in some sort of gray lichen… except, it _moved_, without a breeze. For some reason, that put me on edge… and I began to remember a Star Trek episode I'd seen, which seemed eerily similar to my circumstances, except I didn't have any red shirts for the giant alien yeti to throw spears at. Just me.

**Esplin 1894:**

We should not have left the ship. We had water. We had food. We had air. Without the fighter's sensors, we didn't know _what_ was here. The presence of the organic growth indicated an ecosystem of _some_ kind. Without knowing more about that system, how could we exploit it?

_((You really don't let up, do you?))_ Jacob thought snidely.

I ignored the monkey.

((I mean, five minutes on a new planet, and already you're figuring out how to conquer it)) Jacob continued bitterly.

((At least be reasonable. Our survival is the top priority)) I said forcefully.

"Well, _yeah_," Jacob said, rolling our eyes. Our ears perceived the trickle of water nearby, though in this thick mist, sound was distorted strangely.

The attack came from the left.

**Jacob Nyles:**

Pain. On my face. _Mother fuc—_!

I staggered away from the claws, and raised the dracon beam, blood getting in my eyes, fouling my aim. I saw movement, and fired at it. Something screamed like Godzilla, and now there was pain, in my belly. I fired some more, leaving red after-images on my retinas…

Then it was gone.

((The fighter. Now!)) Esplin demanded, terrified.

I didn't argue. Where was the fighter? I retraced my steps, trying to see through the mist, and the blood.

((Farther left, I think)) Esplin said frantically.

Really? My head felt sluggish, and my limbs kept getting heavier. What was wrong with me—

((Jacob hurry)) Esplin pleaded, ((Concentrate! Left foot. Right foot))

_Bossy_… there were noises behind me, I thought.

((Ignore that. See the fighter? It's a little to our left. Focus!)) Esplin snarled.

_Shut up._ I could still see… I saw the wreck, and the open hatch.

I climbed up the ship.

((Where is the dracon beam? Did you drop it?)) Esplin demanded.

I frowned, trying to remember.

((The hatch. Get inside)) Esplin interrupted.

I misjudged the distance, and fell through the hatch. My face hurt… and the deck was cold.

((CLOSE THE DOOR!)) Esplin screamed. Something bit my leg. I kicked, and the teeth vanished. I blindly found the handle of the hatch, and pulled it shut, with a reassuring click. Then I slept for a really long time.

**Esplin 1894:**

Less than ten minutes on an alien world, and Jacob almost killed us. I could feel the toxin pumping through the human's body, but the enhancements to his immune system _should_ be enough to counteract the damage… eventually. Until then, I'll have to put up with his coma. He was a blank wall to me right now. I reviewed the fleeting memories I had, through Jacob, of the attack, but most of it had occurred out of sight, frustrating my efforts. Eventually, I gave up on it, and tried to find other things to do... it was a very long thirty-nine hours.

**Jacob Nyles: **

I woke up, just enough, to know that I hurt. A lot. I explored my injuries, although that made me black out a couple times when I touched something I _should not_ have. I also ignored Esplin's complaints and nagging. Something had clawed my face to the bone. (And yes, I did feel bone).

_Another_ thing, (or maybe the same thing), had left a few teeth marks in my right leg. Those weren't as deep, but they hurt.

The worst injury though, was the damned puncture in my belly… or the poison.

Mostly, I slept. I ate ration pellets when I was awake, and drank water too. This worked for about a week. Then the water ran out. By then, I was awake almost as much as I was asleep though.

"Thirsty…" I mumbled.

((You drank it all)) Esplin said sullenly.

"Not, all," I argued.

((Yes. All of it is gone)) Esplin snapped.

"Damn," I realized.

There was silence in my head for a while.

((We have to repair the waste recycling system)) Esplin nagged _again_.

((I'm not nagging. You're being stupid)) Esplin growled.

That meant sitting up… and moving… and _work_.

((No work, no water)) Esplin said condescendingly.

_Bitch._

**Esplin 1894:**

Jacob complained the _entire_ time I walked him through the repairs, and took long breaks just to annoy me… but eventually, after 18 hours without water, Jacob stopped being petty, and actually began to seriously apply himself to the situation. Motivated by the increasing thirst, and _not_ by any newfound maturity.

((You know I can hear you, right?)) Jacob complained, trying to realign the interface between the emergency generator and the purification filters, as I had shown him.

((This would be easier if you let _me_ do it)) I pointed out _again_.

"And what's to keep you from making a damned transmitter?" Jacob growled.

((The long range beacon is part of the Z-space drive. Without the drive, we have no long-range communication)) I repeated, again.

He was actually worried I might regain control, if he let me do too much. Without any better ideas, it was the only action I could think of to save myself.

"You're not very bright," Jacob grunted, "Even if you do get us recaptured, I doubt your superiors will be happy to see you… I mean, I _did_ cripple a pool ship…"

Jacob's words made me uneasy, but I refused to accept them. What else was there? Be a prisoner to a monkey? No, my superiors would realize that the project still had merit, it just had some… flaws… to fix. I was still valuable, I could make the project work.

"You kept meticulous records. You were never innovating anything. You just connected the dots with Esplin 469's memories… and the research data wasn't destroyed, like last time," Jacob pointed out, in a peculiarly perceptive mood.

((What are you saying?)) I hissed, knowing full well what he was getting at.

"You're expendable. They can get someone else to do this work. Someone _older_, and more _experienced_."

It was true, by Jacobs reckoning of time, he was older than me by several years, but unlike humans, Yeerks have no "infancy." We are fully formed young adults upon our births. We also have no true life span. Until we choose to reproduce, and die, we could conceivably live a very long time, with the Kandrona regenerating our cells every three days…

"Besides, they'll want a scapegoat… and for all the merits of the Kandrona implant, _something_ you did, among all these modifications strengthened my control, as well as my body… which unless they want to wade through seven or eight years of further testing, they'll probably just scrap the project, and try cloning hork-bajir again…" Jacob muttered.

The precursor to the kandrona project _had_ been the cloning of Hork-bajir… but the creators of the Hork-bajir, a race of winged humanoids, had been masters of genetic engineering. They had modified their own bodies, to make it impossible for us to enslave them without killing them… so we simply killed them. More to the point, since none of the _Arn_ still lived, we didn't have any knowledge of how to counteract the safeguards implanted in the Hork-bajir's genetic structure. Every attempt to clone them had met in failure, with twisted, broken creatures that were beyond useless. The Arn had not wanted anyone to interfere or duplicate their _art_.

We could clone Gedds, Taxxons, and even humans… but such a process was long, and it was far quicker to simply seize the host bodies. Besides, we had no use for more Gedds or Taxons, and humans grew too slowly, taking almost eighteen years to become useful. _No one_ wanted more Taxxons either, which bred extremely rapidly… because they were fairly useless.

"I think I got it," Jacob said, distracting me from my thoughts. To my surprise, he had indeed succeeded, following my instructions almost precisely. With a muted whirr, something came to life beneath the deck plates of the cockpit.

"How long before we get drinkable water?" Jacob asked, the back of our throat dry.

((About an hour)) I said reluctantly.

So we waited.

**Jacob Nyles:**

((What are you doing?)) Esplin asked. I ignored it, sharpening the long piece of metal I'd snapped off the ruined rear of the ship yesterday (after considerable leverage and effort was applied). It was about half a meter long, three or four centimeters wide, and a centimeter thick. I wrapped one end in strips of cloth, taken from my flight suit.

((A _sword_. That is your solution?)) Esplin sneered.

I continued to ignore the parasite, and sharpen the metal against the harder material of the reactor shielding. The sound grated on my hearing, but I was seeing visible results with every tenth pass. The blade was crooked, since this metal had once contoured, as part of the hull… but crooked or not, I was sure having something sharp could not be a bad thing, when hell-monsters in the mist were concerned. Especially because I hadn't seen the Dracon beam during my quick excursion. Underneath Esplin's derision, I did sense it's fear. It wanted the Dracon too… and the only way to find it, was to go _look_ for it… but without a weapon of some kind, that would be suicide.

((It's been almost a month since we lost the weapon. It might not even be operational after all this time)) Esplin said, worried. I felt a twinge in my belly, and ignored the old wound. It had mostly healed… but the repaired muscles were still a bit weak and twitchy sometimes, prone to cramping.

((There's no point to even leave the fighter, we have everything we need here)) Esplin continued, with increasing fear as it caught the drift of my thoughts.

"I'm not going to just sit here, and cower for the rest of my life. Besides, we only have enough rations for another month. Going to have to find some sort of food in Jurassic Park, out there," I said.

((Without the sensors though—!)) Esplin started to protest, before I tuned it out. When it came down to it, Yeerks were cowards. Opportunistic, aggressive… but ultimately unwilling to risk anything without a fairly strong certainty of success.

((Practicality is not cowardice)) Esplin said sullenly.

"Making a weapon to look for food, that is practicality. Sitting in this prison, hoping to be rescued before the food runs out… _that_ is cowardice," I said forcefully, giving the emerging blade another pass.

**Esplin 1894:**

Jacob was an idiot. How did he think that a piece of sharp metal was going to be effective against these unknown monsters? We didn't even know what they looked like. The modifications made Jacob stronger than a human, but we were _not_ "Superman" as Jacob liked to think. At most, we were 50% percent stronger than a human of similar size and build. No more. Jacob swung the clumsy blade in our hand, testing its balance, before scrambling out of the hatch, and into the mist. Cautiously, Jacob advanced, along the path we had first wandered. Visibility was only three meters. Something snorted in the mist, and Jacob crouched, holding the blade in his right hand, cocked over our left shoulder, ready for a cross-body diagonal downward slash. It would capitalize on our strength, and speed… the snorting continued, and a creature shuffled into view.

Jacob thought it looked like a sea urchin and a lizard had "got it on."

The creature's body was round, with half-meter spines protruding in every direction. Six thin lizard-like legs emerged from underneath the spines at equal intervals, and propelled the strange two-meter long creature along. From beneath the body, a lizard head was busy eating the mobile lichen, oblivious to its surroundings… no doubt trusting to the serrated spines to protect it.

The creature froze, and hunkered down, drawing its legs in like a turtle. Jacob warily looked around, in case the creature had not been reacting to _our_ presence. There was the faint brush of flesh on stone, to our right, before a creature jumped at us, from its hidden perch. Jacob yelled, and swung the blade. Serrated mandibles flashed inches from our face, and then there was hot liquid on our flightsuit. The creature looked like a cross between a crab and a spider, with six thick, armored legs, and a mouth of serrated teeth that opened and closed sideways. Two spider-like mandibles curled over the inner teeth, and glistened with fluid. It was only a meter long, and Jacob had nearly cut it in half.

((Look out!)) I screamed, but Jacob was already turning, slapping another of the crab spiders from the air behind him, and stabbed the blade through the pinned creature's body, before whipping the sword through the air, which tore the creature free, and sent it flying at the immobile lizard-urchin. The urchin's spines neatly impaled the creature, spitting it like a bug.

More of the predators appeared from the mist, shooting at us with mindless abandon. Jacob was calling them Hell-spiders, and he refused to run. What frightened me though, was that these were not the creatures that had harmed us. They were too small, too weak… and we had been poisoned by a sting similar to a scorpion, not bitten.

A Hell spider suddenly froze in midair, writhing… on the point of a stinger. We had found our attacker. The creature ambled into view. It was easily twice the length of the bug fighter, shaped like a massive caterpillar, with tentacles emerging every half meter… and the ends of those six meter tentacles carried a wicked hooked stinger. The lizard-urchin immediately rose, and scooted closer to the caterpillar. The hell-spiders retreated. We also retreated, having experienced the venom once… and Jacob caught sight of more urchins trailing behind the caterpillar, before we were too far to see anything in the mist.

We were turned around in the mist, but eventually, after my initial panic eased somewhat, I did recognize a rock formation we had passed earlier, and we found safety.

**Jacob Nyles:**

"We know more now than we did," I pointed out. Esplin was still hyperventilating in the back of my head. It was a control thing, I think. It was forced to sit and watch, and hope I didn't kill us. If it had been with me, in a second body, and we had been forced to cooperate, I doubt it would be quite so fearful.

((Because I would stay with the ship)) Esplin muttered darkly.

"Okay. Urchins stick close to caterpillars," I observed.

((And are defensive, not aggressive)) Esplin added.

"Right, so I guess the caterpillar is also defensively aggressive, dealing with threats to the herd?" I guessed.

Esplin shrugged in my head. She was a xeno-geneticist, not a xeno-biologist or zoologist.

I didn't like that the tentacles were longer than our range of vision. It could hit us before we knew to back away.

"So long as we steer clear of urchins, we should be fine," I summarized.

((And hope the Hell-spiders don't ambush us)) Esplin grumbled.

((()))

Upon closer inspection, the lichen proved to not be plant based at all. It was actually some sort of worm colony… and even after getting cooked, gave me the runny shits for nearly a week, as well as muscle cramping, and dizziness.

With only three weeks of rations left, Esplin and I turned to riskier venue. Fortunately, Hell-spiders _were_ edible… but tasted like burnt rubber.

((You've never eaten burnt rubber)) Esplin pointed out.

"But I've smelled it before, and that taste gets stuck in the back of your throat," I argued, carefully dissecting the Hell-spider carcass, avoiding the poisonous bits.

((()))

((How long do you reckon we've been here?)) I wondered, ripping up a handful of lichen ever three steps, as trail markers.

((Does it matter?)) Esplin asked, focused intently on my senses, on edge, as always, whenever we left the ship.

((I mean, it's been at least three months, do you think the Yeerks are still looking for us?)) I wondered. This Robinson Crusoe bit was better than execution, or enslavement, but I was considering more… radical… plans for our future… most of which involved bogus signals, and hijacking any ship that investigated… but most of those were simply fantasies, since our Z-space drive was somewhere in orbit. Naturally, this was when I stepped on something, and a blinding red flash burned at my eyes.

I couldn't believe it. After a _month_ of searching, we hadn't been able to find the lost Dracon beam… but now, long after giving up the search, I found it by accident? And almost vaporized our foot?

((Just lucky, I guess)) I observed shakily, staring at the missing rock formation, which could have easily been our _foot_.

((_Luck…_ another of your superstitions… as if certain individuals had a nebulous ability to affect probability around them… which is _absurd_)) Esplin sneered, but I could tell how shaken it was. I checked the charge on the weapon… it was nearly depleted.

((We should retreat. The energy discharge has no doubt attracted things to the area)) Esplin urged. For once, I didn't argue… but we could feel the ponderous vibrations of something _large_ approaching. I broke into a dead sprint, following our trail markers back to the ship… I could take on raptors, but a T-Rex? Nope, not happening. Unfortunately, upon reaching the fighter, it became apparent it wasn't a T-rex _following_ us…

**Esplin 1894:**

((Skrit Na. They probably detected the bug fighter)) I told Jacob.

The saucer shaped craft easily dwarfed our wrecked bug fighter, the downdraft from the engines forcing the mist away, creating nearly fifty meters of clear visibility, which we crouched at the edge of, and Jacob's thoughts were turned to images of alien movies he'd seen as a child.

"Suggestions?" Jacob asked tensely, as a tractor beam activated, and the main cargo-hold opened up like a… mouth.

((Skrit Na are compulsive hoarders. If they see you, they'll try to capture you, to take you to some zoo on their homeworld)) I told him quickly.

"So stay out of sight," Jacob answered.

((_No_. Let them see you, and we'll escape once we're onboard. We're out of time for anything complicated)) I said, worried.

Jacob hesitated for a moment, but he trusted my judgment, "Alright… but if this doesn't work, it's all your fault," Jacob half joked, tight with tension.

((Now or never)) I prompted.

"Shit," Jacob sighed, then raised the dracon beam in his hand, and fired, the low powered weapon barely singed the gray paint on the wildly blinking ship's hull. A high powered flood-light snapped on, illuminating Jacob. He tossed his weapon aside, it was empty anyway, and raised his hands.

One of the three underpowered weapons ports glowed green, but did not fire. The tractor beam finished drawing up the bug fighter, and the giant saucer coasted towards us, until it was overhead. The tractor beam covered us a moment later, and drew us up into the hold.

One of the Na was standing nearby, with an old model dracon beam in one grey hand. It looked exactly like "Grays" from Jacob's alien movies. Short, big heads with big black eyes, small mouths, long arms and legs… I was inclined to agree with Jacob, comparing his mental image to the Na, that the similarities were rather startling. I'd never seen one in person before. The Na gibbered in badly accented _galard_, and raised its weapon, shooting us without preamble.

((Oww….)) Jacob complained.

((Go limp. Pretend you're stunned)) I hissed to him. Jacob complied. We were still trapped in the tractor beam. Until they deactivated it, we were helpless.

((When the tractor beam deactivates, we need to move quickly, you'll have three seconds before they can power it back up. Get the Na's dracon beam, and get out of the room, there should be a door to your left)) I quickly advised, thinking furiously. We would need to get to the bridge…

I felt the tingles of the beam fade, and Jacob slumped to the ground, boneless. Jacob used his hearing as the Na approached, and kicked us lightly, apparently satisfied that we were unconscious.

Jacob was coiled though, like a spring. As soon as the Na began to turn, Jacob's eyes flashed open, and he surged up, snatching the Dracon beam, and backhanded the diminutive alien across the hold.

He scrambled across the hold, littered with _junk_, and around our crashed bug fighter, blasting through the small hatch into the next compartment, ignoring the drips of molten metal that landed on our clothing. I tried to remember the layout of a Skrit Na raider, but I… hadn't paid much attention to those lessons.

"You were daydreaming?" Jacob asked incredulously. I ignored the human in embarrassment.

((There, the ladder, take it to the first deck, which has the living quarters, and the bridge)) I interrupted, distracting Jacob's train of thought.

"Got it."

A large, insect-like Skrit (the "immature" version of the Na) bustled towards us. Jacob panicked, and snapped his weapon up to fire.

((Stop, they're harmless, and we need them to run the ship!)) I said quickly. Jacob lowered the weapon, reluctantly. Jacob was afraid of insects?

((Spiders)) he corrected me, ((or anything with way too many legs and an exoskeleton)) Jacob squeezed against the opposite wall of the small corridor, until the Skrit passed us. Jacob fought down a shudder, and kept moving. He tapped the access pad that would open the hatch to the ladder, but it flashed at him, and blipped in denial.

"Did they lock the hatch?" Jacob asked.

((Yes, I need your hands for a minute)) I said.

"Do it," Jacob said. And for a minute, I had control of his arms, and he obligingly looked wherever I told him to. I wallowed in that sensation; ordering bundles of muscles to move, and feeling them do so. I had the panel off the lock, and the entire node rewired in forty seconds. From there I isolated the lock and had it open in less than fifteen seconds.

"Thanks," Jacob said, and I was simply an observer once more.

We reached the bridge, and found the hatch was once again locked.

Jacob let me fiddle with the lock, but the Na had already isolated the command pathway, rerouting the commands deeper, were I couldn't get at them without actual tools.

((We're going to have to cut through)) I said grimly.

"They've busted the lock, huh. Time for the door opener," Jacob agreed, raising the old dracon beam.

((Change the weapon power setting from level 3 to level 8, and adjust the beam width from one point four centimeters to seven millimeters. An inverted triangle pattern would be best)) I instructed, and my reluctant accomplice listened raptly.

"Knock-knock," he said viciously, and squinted his eyes from the intense red light.

((Knock-knock indeed, more like _boom-boom_)) I said, snidely. Jacob finished his triangle, returned the weapon to its original settings, and kicked the metal triangle out. I had expected the Na to open fire, and I wasn't disappointed. Their aim left something to be desired though. Jacob snap fired, hitting one of the Na, leaving only one still standing in the cockpit. "This is on stun, right?" he belatedly asked.

((Why? Having second thoughts?)) I sneered.

"No, but how familiar are your with this type of craft?" Jacob pointed out.

((Point taken. Yes, the weapon is set to "heavy" stun, unless you hit their head. Then they will most likely be brain dead)) I answered.

"Okay." Jacob replied, and popped up again, shooting the last Na in the chest.

((Let me access the bridge controls)) I said anxiously.

"Access away," Jacob said, letting go of his arms. He still couldn't let me control his head, but letting me use his arms had grown common place to him.

I quickly hacked into the ancient computer system the Skrit Na were using on this relic. It was at _least_ thirty years old, from a scrapped Ongachic freight tug. Within minutes, I had all of the command functions rerouted, and keyed to Jacob's voice and biometrics. The Skrit Na were essentially locked out of their own computer.

"What have you done, human?!" a Na stood in the compromised hatch, a large welt rising on his head, and a dracon beam in his trembling hand.

((Let me speak for you)) I hissed. Jacob hesitated, but then I felt him relax the barriers around his speech centers.

"No, what have _you_ done, Skrit Na? Do you have any idea who _I am_?" I let the cold steel of a Visser creep into Jacob's voice.

"I am Visser 43. If you do not cooperate, I will seize this ship, and you will be… entertained… by the Yeerk Empire." _Best not claim too high a rank…_

If possible, the Na's face grew even paler.

"My, my apologies, Yeerk-friend, the captain did not know, the fighter was so damaged… it could not be identified," the Na stammered.

((Na are also compulsive liars, and quick to shift blame to others)) I told Jacob. He mentally nodded.

"What is your rank on this ship?" I demanded through Jacob's mouth.

"I am third of three," the Na answered.

"Your captain has wronged me. I hold him responsible, as well as his second in command. I am captain now, and you are my first officer," I proclaimed.

"I… I am second of three?" the obviously young Na questioned, stunned.

"No. You are second of _four_," I answered.

"What are your orders… captain?" the Na asked. I gestured imperiously at the two unconscious Na at my feet, "Secure them in the cage they would have put me in, first officer."

"Yes sir," the Na bobbed, bowing profusely.

I turned my back on him, confident that he was still too awed by his promotion to think of attacking me.

The shot hit Jacob right between the shoulder blades, pitching us forward into the controls. "Yeerk-friend is foolish. I was not third of three, I was first of three. _I_ am captain."

The Na fired again, hitting Jacob in the kidney, before he could recover from the first, higher level setting blast.

Skrit Na always lie… I thought, chagrined. Jacob was past such things, even his improved resistance to energy weapons had their limits, which we had just reached.


	3. Chapter 3: Cooperation

**Jacob Nyles:**

Damn it. I prowled the little cage they had me in, and watched the little gray bastard yammering at me. Their computer wasn't working. I sneered at them and laughed, "Go to hell."

((Perhaps not the wisest comment)) Esplin hissed tightly, after I was done reeling from the Dracon shot to my gut.

((Skrit Na love deals. Perhaps we could trade something with them?)) Esplin wondered.

"What do you suggest?" I asked, ignoring the captain.

((Secrets, the encryption to their computer, the encryption on the bug fighter's main computer, buried treasure… anything like that)) Esplin replied wryly. I got the feeling she didn't think too highly of Skrit Na.

"Captain, I would like to make a deal," I said calmly. To my surprise, the bastard immediately shut up for a moment, then tilted his head.

"Deal, yeerk-friend?" he asked cautiously.

I nodded, "Obviously I should not have tried to commandeer your craft, friend, but I was on a mission to retrieve an artifact crucial to our war effort against the Andalites. I humbly request, from one captain to another, that you aid me in this venture."

"Artifact? Describe," the captain demanded.

I slowly shook my head, "I cannot do that, friend. I would not wish you killed, to ensure its security."

The captain slowly lowered his dracon beam, and I saw greed in those black eyes.

"We will aid yeerk-friend. Tell us, where we go?"

((Coordinates, please)) I prompted. Esplin thought quickly, then began to spew off a string of numbers. I just repeated them.

((I hope that's not the coordinates for a sun, or black hole)) I quipped.

Esplin didn't answer me at first. ((Right?)) I asked.

((It's the location of a sun)) Esplin admitted, ((your sun.))

((What?!)) I demanded.

**Esplin 1894:**

((You revealed the location of Earth! To those, those… people snatchers!)) Jacob roared, his fury cowing me, an almost painful assault.

((They've been to Earth before, where do you think those movies you remember came from?!)) I said defensively.

((Oh)) The fury disappeared, as if it never was.

((Besides, there are things worse than the Skrit Na on your planet)) I pointed out.

A moment later I wished I hadn't said anything. Jacob's pain was my pain, his joy was my joy… I could blame him for my addiction to human emotion, but that isn't completely true. There are… other reasons.

((How do we get out of this cage?)) Jacob asked.

((How are they going to fly the ship?)) I countered.

((Oh…. _Gotcha_))

"Friend, do I need to rescind my lockouts in your fine ship's computer?" Jacob asked.

((()))

In Jacob's words: I'll be damned. They fell for it. All three of the Na were present, with Dracon beams pointed squarely at us.

((Don't do anything until we're on the bridge, or on the way back. Be passive and agreeable. Let them lower their guard)) I counseled.

Jacob didn't listen to me. When we reached the ladder to the next level, the Na were clumped around us. One behind, and one on either side. Jacob leaned over, to fit into the small opening, and struck. His left foot snapped out behind him, blindly kicking a Na with excessive force, and his arms shot out, as if for balance, his fists impacting with the skulls of the Na. When he straightened both Na on Jacob's flanks collapsed. Jacob quickly snapped the necks of the unconscious aliens, wary of being outnumbered. Jacob turned to the Na he had kicked. It was the captain, I recognized. Jacob's kick had broken most of the Na's ribcage. Jacob looked it in the eye.

"My name is Jacob Nyles, and _no one_ puts me in a cage." He twisted, and the Na's head hung loose on its neck.

"The ship is ours, my dear Esplin," Jacob observed jovially.

((Where to?)) I asked.

"Home," Jacob said.

((Home)) I agreed.

That word.

It held so much meaning to Jacob.

I was born in the Sulp Nair pool, but it was not my home.

I grew up in a mobile tank, aboard a miserably small supply ship.

That was not my home.

I have no home.

I _wanted_ a home though. I wanted this beautiful thing that Jacob held in his heart, this thing called _home_. A yeerk does not _belong_ anywhere. We impose, we deform the places we go, making those places for us. But we do not belong. I wondered idly, if that was why we had to expand. We were searching for a _home_. Driven to fight and war, to find that missing piece called home… the thing our enemies seemed to possess, yet withheld from us. My introspection was broken by Jacob's mental elbow nudge, "Mind doing your magic on the computer?" he let go of his arms even before I could ask.

I accessed the computer, and plugged in the coordinates for Sol, Earth's sun. I deftly piloted us up out of the atmosphere, and weaved through the asteroids. Our shields were stronger than a bug fighter's (old as they might be) and the asteroids posed little threat to us.

"Esplin. Look." Jacob told me softly. He gazed at the thick atmosphere of the planet we had escaped, as the small blue dwarf began to "rise." It seemed to ignite the swirling gases into a kaleidoscope of sapphires and shapes, perfectly back lit in their entire staggering array.

Jacob held the door for me, as I entered into his mind, and I stood with him, to look through his eyes. I saw the beauty. _I saw_.

**Jacob Nyles:**

An alarm is going off somewhere. Why does something go wrong only _after_ I finally manage to fall asleep?

((Hurry)) Esplin urged.

"Fine. Look, I'm walking _faster_ now, happy?" I snarled. Guiltily I broke into a run. "Sorry." I muttered.

((You are always cranky when you are roused. It is expected of children)) Esplin replied in a surprisingly snarky tone.

"Touché," I conceded, still grumpy.

The consoles are screaming in the bridge, and I let Esplin use my head and arms.

"Our Z-space vector is decaying," she told me, worried, through my mouth. My eyes darted, and fingers danced across the controls.

"The Skrit Na's Z-space drive is a piece of stolen Hawjabran _shit_," she cursed. That got my attention. Esplin almost never swore. She reserved harsh language for situations that warranted it, like a miserly soldier on his last pistol clip.

((That's bad?)) I asked.

"It's worse than bad, it's _fucking shitty bad_," Esplin told me.

Now I was _veeery worried_.

((How bad is it? And please, give it to me straight)) I asked quietly.

((The navigational computer and their Z-space drive are only barely compatible with each other. In addition, the Skrit Na are not firm believers in routine or preventative maintenance. They use things until they break, and _then_ replace them, the Hawjabran Z-space drive is older than _both_ of us put together)) Esplin told me, mind to mind for speed of communication.

((What are we doing to fix this?)) I asked. Stay objective, Jacob, we can get out of this, I told myself firmly. I almost believed it too.

My fingers continued to fly across the touch screens and controls as my yeerk tried to keep us alive.

((I'm trying to stabilize our trajectory enough so that we can fall out of Z-space in such a way that keeps the ship relatively intact, and _not_ reduce us to interstellar dust. I'm having limited success trying to reroute the stabilizers, since the programming languages of the different compressors don't quite match up to the jury-rigged interface)) Esplin told me breathlessly.

I'd been awake for exactly three minutes. Sometimes, my life really _sucks_.

Esplin silently seconded my opinion.

**Esplin 1894:**

I was glad that Jacob knew so little about computers. It was good to be needed, to have something to offer. I might not have value to him, but my skills did. It took me seven minutes to finally reconfigure the failing drive to align long enough to "safely" drop us out of Z-space. The compensators failed, _naturally_, no doubt stolen from some orbital junkyard, and everything inside the ship ended up getting shaken like (to borrow another phrase from Jacob) beans in a pod. As such, we picked up a nice set of bruises all over our body, and a sore knee.

But we were alive.

"Uh, so, we're not _stranded _or anything, right?" Jacob asked me nervously.

((We might be seconds away from exploding.)) I laughed bitterly, ((This computer can't tell me _shit_. None of the systems are talking to each other.))

"So let's use the ol' mark one eyeball," Jacob suggested wryly.

It wasn't as bad as I feared.

It was _worse_.

((The Z-space drive's inversion motivator is slag)) I said with disgust, probing cautiously at the Skrit Na's little monster with a piece of insulated piping. Jacob squinted at the sparking rat's nest of cables that connected the disparate components of the Z-space drive into the Skrit Na's ship. I recognized most of the parts, but some of them weren't even _meant_ to be used in the ways they'd been incorporated. He jiggled the human flashlight he'd found in the shaken detritus of the bridge a little higher, illuminating the cramped crawl space a little better for me.

"Hey, isn't that a carburetor, from a human car?" Jacob asked, startled, pointing the light at the flux shielding that surrounded the ionic converter.

((Yes)) I said shortly.

"So, this _inversion motivator_, how critical is it? Can we bypass it or something?" Jacob asked.

((I can bypass it in less than a minute)) I told him darkly.

"Then what's the problem?" Jacob asked, wary.

((We'd jump to Z-space in pieces)) I explained coldly.

"Ah. That would be bad. _Don't_ bypass the inversion motivator," Jacob decided.

I continued to chew on the problem. Most of the Z-space _drive-from-hell_ was intact… just missing that one part. I didn't know how to jury rig another part to act like it, because I didn't really know _how_ it worked; exactly, only what its function was. I'm one of the brightest scientists the Yeerk Empire has ever produced… in xeno-genetics. I only had a basic education in Z-space theory and mechanics.

While I'd been stewing, Jacob had also been thinking.

"The Skrit Na have our bugfighter…" he started. I'd already considered that angle, and told him as much.

"What else is in the cargo hold? Maybe there's some useful junk down there too," Jacob argued.

((Fine. The sooner we wade through the garbage, the better)) I sneered.

Jacob started down towards the cargo bay, and I stirred uneasily. ((I… I should not have discarded your idea out of hand)) I started awkwardly.

"Apology accepted," Jacob told me, "Besides, you get pissy when you don't have control. It's expected of children." He grinned, and I sensed that he'd been sitting on that for a while, trying to figure out how to use that line on me.

I rolled my proverbial eyes. _Humans_.

((()))

We spent the better part of three hours trying to search through the jumbled cargo hold. The Skrit Na weren't big believers in cargo straps. The hold was a mess. Jacob nearly had a heart attack when he realized that the floor was sticky because he was crawling over the squished body of a Skrit. That was half an hour ago, and Jacob's mind kept jumping back to that every few minutes, and a new shiver of revulsion would jiggle down our spine.

((You really don't like _bugs_)) I noted wryly.

Jacob shrugged, unable to deny it, or laugh it off like he'd done in high school. Jacob didn't even know why they "creeped" him out so badly. I offered to investigate in his early child hood memories, but Jacob quickly declined, wanting nothing to do with it. I'd wait until he was sleeping, I decided. Curiosity is a terrible thing.

"Alright, I give. There's nothing in this junk we can use," Jacob admitted, tired. We'd had less than two hours of sleep over the last three days.

((Sleep would be nice. We're in the middle of literally nothing, deep space)) I pointed out.

"I want to look at the bug fighter," Jacob said stubbornly.

((Sleep)) I said simply. Our body was nearing its limits.

"Fine, one vote for sleep, one vote for searching the bug fighter. Tie breaker goes to me. We're searching the bug fighter," Jacob smugly replied.

I sighed, but what was I going to do exactly? I couldn't sleep until he did.

((Fine)) I knew he was probably right, but still. We were tired, damn it!

((()))

The bug fighter hadn't been damaged anymore than it had been already, which was saying something. All of the loose bits and pieces from our… jury rigging… on the planet had flown all over the interior of the fighter making our footing treacherous.

((Stop!)) I shouted, and Jacob froze, ((Don't step there! We took the access panel off from that section!))

Jacob grimaced ruefully, and placed his foot to the side, avoiding the hidden compartment, filled with exposed circuitry and other delicate _powered_ components.

"Thanks," he muttered.

((If you electrocute yourself, I die too)) I reminded him.

"So, this inversion motivator, how does it keep us from jumping to Z-space in pieces?" Jacob asked, strangely motivated.

((I'm… not quite sure _how_ it does it, only that it creates a…_ resonance_, of sorts that… well, it somehow let's Z-space know what we're supposed to be shaped like, so when we translate over into Z-space, our shape isn't altered randomly))

"Wait a second, that sounds kind of like the Transporters off Star Trek. Kind of like a… pattern buffer, but for the whole ship, not just a person?" Jacob asked.

I accessed the memories he was referring to. In the _fictional_ show, the pattern buffer stored the "pattern" of the object being disintegrated, and then reintegrated elsewhere, following the pattern. Like a human fax machine, of sorts.

((I suppose, broadly, it is the same principle)) I hedged.

"How was the bug fighter's Z-space drive broken again?" Jacob asked. I laughed in his head, ((It's gone, along with the port engine and thruster assembly))

_"Ackk-fuck-shit-damn!"_ Jacob yelped, when a Skrit silently brushed past us from behind, in the dark. Our heart was beating _very_ fast, and cold, spiky adrenaline was surging through us. It inspected a piece of our bug fighter, than rapidly disassembled it, and removed several components.

"What's it doing?" Jacob asked suspiciously. I held my breath though.

((I… I'm not _sure_, but I think it's carrying out repairs on the ship)) I whispered.

((()))

"So the _cockroaches_ are the engineers?!" Jacob demanded, watching the Skrit deftly remove the slagged inversion motivator, and wire in a _discharge capacitor_ from the bugfighter's Dracon-cannon, connected in series to the _flash shunt_ of the bug-fighter's ruined shielding array, and then, finally, used the bug fighter's starboard engine _processing node matrix_ to coordinate the pieces. Apparently satisfied with its work, the Skrit trundled off, to repair some other part of the ship.

I had no idea how it worked, or even if it _would_ work, not without running some diagnostics, and computer simulations. More importantly though, it was time to sleep.

((()))

Jacob was dreaming, and now was my chance to sift through his memories. I had barely dipped into them when I heard my name, in Jacob's dream. I hesitated. I could always look later, but his dream would not repeat… I had never really looked at Jacob's dreams before. They were too confusing, chaotic.

**Jacob Nyles:**

Have you ever had a dream, where you _knew_ it was a dream?

I sat in a sandbox, with a brilliant red plastic shovel in my tiny, chubby hand. The sun shone down on me, a warm, gentle caress.

I was trying to build a sand castle, but no matter how hard I tried, or how fast I moved, I couldn't do it. The sand kept slumping, it was too dry, but I knew that if I tried harder, I could do it. I _knew_.

Then a cold shadow fell across me, blocking out the sun. I squinted, and looked up at the silhouette of a man. I shivered.

"You can't ignore me," the man said cruelly. I focused harder on the sand castle. I could make the bad man leave, I just had to _focus_.

"I'm a part of you now, you'll never escape," the man gloated softly in my ear.

I knew I couldn't fight him and win. I'd never beaten him.

"That little whisper in your heart, that desire to hurt others… that's me, but now, its you too. This is the price for freedom, little monkey. You have to carry a piece of me inside."

"No!" I shouted, instantly realizing my mistake. I had acknowledged his presence. The man smiled cruelly, even though he was little more than a black, shadowy shape, I could feel that smile.

"Yes," he said, and kicked me. I fell out of the sandbox, and into cold, clinging mud. I crawled to my feet, clutching the useless red shovel. The shadow advanced through the sudden rain and thunder.

"You are a monster now too, little monkey. In the end, you haven't won anything. You'll never be free of _me_," the shadow gloated.

"Shut up, Esplin!" I screamed, and flailed at the shadow. He was bigger. He was stronger. I was just a child.

The shadow-man pinned me to the ground with his knee, and rained punches on me, laughing. I couldn't win.

_Sometimes, everyone needs some help_. The whisper ran through my ears, a familiar voice. I didn't know who it was, but I knew that they were a friend.

"Help!" I shouted.

And everything changed.

I shoved the shadow man off, and stood, no longer a child. I had the strength of a man once more. The shovel in my hand was still brilliant red, but no longer plastic, or small. It was a real shovel. A real tool… or a _weapon_.

The rain and the thunder faltered for a moment, afraid.

I hefted the shovel in my hands, and bared my teeth at the shadow-man.

_Strength is mere perception_. The friend-voice told me, and I paused. I wanted to smack the shadow man into the ground, to grind him away, to kill him. I wanted… to _erase_ him.

"I have a sand castle to build," I said, and the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating my task. I could smell cinnamon cookies on the gentle breeze.

I walked to the sand box, and jammed my shovel into the sand…

And this time, the sand did not crumble.

**Esplin 1894:**

I had not heard my name. I had heard my predecessor's name. I saw the remnant of my mentor as he tormented my Jacob. I tried to attack him, but I was not really there. Jacob was the one dreaming, and I had no direct control of that. He wouldn't let me. I don't know if it was conscious or not.

I stood by, powerless as the specter overpowered Jacob, who was a child, no more than six years old. Even then, Jacob fought. He fought when he could not win, as he always did. He refused to yield. Among all of his human weakness, his emotional volatility, a curious strength remained, enhanced by his weaknesses and faults. I edged closer, trying to name this strength. I had nothing to compare it to.

Jacob was tiring though, and I leaned down beside his head, "Let me help, Jacob, please. Let me in," I whispered.

"Help!" Jacob yelled. I had a moment, only a moment, to change something in Jacob's dream, before he would close down to me again. I could only change a single aspect…

I couldn't make the specter vanish, that was too complicated. The external environment had no direct impact on this. Perhaps a weapon? No… that would be too complicated too, and not of his dream. This had to be Jacob. I looked at Jacob, teeth bared in pain, but his eyes glinted with that stubborn defiance, his refusal to accept things as they were. He was always trying to change things…

I felt an idea tug at me. Could I? Yes. I could.

I touched his perceptions_; You are a man, not a boy._

His perception shimmered, and I saw Jacob as I knew him. Strong, independent… things I could never be. I would forever be a parasite.

He threw off the specter, and stood, with a real shovel in his hands, and the desire to use it.

"Jacob, ignore him, he's only as strong as you believe him to be," I urged, and Jacob faltered.

"I have a sand castle to build," he decided, and the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the sandbox. A breeze swept through the dream, washing away the rain, and the specter, with a scent familiar to Jacob, but unknown to me. He smiled, and had eyes only for the sandbox, using his big shovel to begin constructing a fortification of some kind.

I quietly stood on the edges, and watched Jacob dream.

Later I checked Jacob's child hood memories, when he left REM sleep. Jacob was afraid of spiders because his older brother used to tease him with a rubber spider on a string, when Jacob was two. I wasn't going to tell Jacob, because when Jacob was seven, his brother was hit by a car, and died. Although Jacob didn't realize it, his older brother, Eric, or at least Jacob's perception of who Eric was, had defined how Jacob grew up. Eric was Jacob's subconscious role model.

Jacob never gave up, because he had never seen Eric give up.

I buried the information deep, so that I wouldn't accidentally show it to Jacob in an unguarded moment. _That which is known, can never be unknown…_ but a yeerk can deliberately misfile information in such a way that we essentially "forget."

When Jacob woke, he vaguely recalled the dream, but not the specifics. He was in a good mood though. Even the disgusting ration pellets didn't dampen his mood… much.

I ran the computer simulation (laughable as it was on such an ancient computer) but I found no fault with the machinery.

"I've been looking at this screen for the last thirty minutes," Jacob complained, "What's it telling us?"

((Well, if you would bother to learn _galard_, you wouldn't have to wait for me to translate for you. I hear the Andalites make neural implants for that)) I said, distracted.

"I have enough implants. What's it say?" Jacob growled.

((It says that the repairs will let us enter Z-space with an 89.78% chance of still being in one piece, and staying that way. The odds of us remaining intact though diminish roughly 3% every seventeen minutes.)) I said heavily.

"So, a short jump then," Jacob observed.

((Or a distress call, but I'd advise against it. Unlike your _Star Trek_, the only things that usually answer distress calls are scavengers, or predators))

"With our, _limited_ choices, what can we reach?" Jacob asked me. I'd already drawn up and cross-correlated nearly two dozen star systems, balancing distance against the increasing likelihood of disintegration and death. I had narrowed the list down to two (which is what took most of the thirty minutes Jacob had complained about).

((Originally, the list had twenty-three systems on it. I eliminated all of the systems that were uninhabited, without resources, or had dangerous natural phenomena. That left only two systems))

"Okay. What systems?" Jacob asked impatiently.

((The first is BD-21379. The second planet from the sun is being used as a staging point by the Third Fleet of the Yeerk Empire, commanded by Visser Seven)) I said heavily.

"So… what's the other planet?" Jacob asked quietly.

I hesitated. The second planet was hardly better than the first…

((BG-21322)) I said, ((It has a fledgling Andalite research and reconnaissance outpost on the fifth planet. The yeerk empire is unaware of it, but this ship passed through that system several months ago, and detected the initial power signatures during the Andalite's construction of the outpost, before the stealth shielding was installed))

Jacob frowned, "It being an Andalite outpost isn't the only thing worrying you," he observed.

I shrugged one of Jacob's shoulders, ((If the Andalites detected the Skrit Na, then they might have abandoned construction on the outpost, and the system.))

"So it might be a one way trip…" Jacob frowned.

"The Skrit Na trade with the yeerks, could we infiltrate the staging area, posing as traders?" Jacob asked.

I shook his head, ((No, civilian craft are not permitted in that system, due to the ease with which Andalite guerillas could infiltrate the staging infrastructure. Only yeerk craft with proper clearance and security codes can approach the staging area without being annihilated out of hand.))

"So we have no chance, and half a chance for choices," Jacob said quietly, "Not really that hard of a decision, is it?"

((No, not really)) I agreed sadly.

"Do we have to make the jump now?" Jacob asked.

((No, but Z-space coordinates do shift, so sooner is better than later))

"If we're going to do this… lessons learned. I want to put a pack together, in case we have to bail from this ship in a hurry."

I considered that to be strangely pragmatic for Jacob, who was more inclined to let the chips fall where they may.

He combed the Skrit Na ship, mostly the cargo hold, grabbing loose bits and pieces that he thought might come in handy in a crisis. He had enough stuff to fill five suitcases.

((How are we going to carry all of this junk?)) I asked scathingly. We were strong, but not _that_ strong.

"Patience," was all he told me.

The Skrit Na had a back-pack in the hold, a sad looking human canvas affair, with once gaudy colors. It was a bright pink Minnie-Mouse back pack, fit for a small child. Stains and splotches had discolored the original coloring, giving it a mottled appearance. For some reason, its dilapidated appearance saddened Jacob.

((That's not going to hold much)) I noted, less than helpful.

Jacob ignored me, and began carefully sifting through his junk pile. He kept only the lightest, most useful items.

-The battered human flashlight  
-The dracon beam in the best condition  
-The power cells from the other dracon beams.  
-A knife of indeterminate origin  
-The case of yeerk ration pellets  
-Three bottles of purified water, from various sources  
-A small set of hand tools (mostly Ongachian make)  
-A thermal survival blanket (from the bug fighter)  
-The memory crystal-chip from the bugfighter's computer  
-A human Bic lighter, half empty  
-A book of human matches, about two-thirds empty.  
-Twenty meters of braided optical cable, which could easily double as a rope.  
-The guts of a short range communication relay.  
-A crude optical scanner, which could emulate a primitive telescope.  
-And finally, rescued from beneath a bundle of mildewed human clothing: a dog-eared paper back book was added. I didn't see the title. That was wrapped in plastic.

((I believe the kitchen sink is still in the crew quarters. I'd hate to leave it)) I remarked sarcastically.

"Oh, I'd forgotten. I'll just grab that, shall I?" Jacob replied gratefully. I wanted to scream at him.

"Relax Esplin. I'm joking," Jacob told me, humor absent. Slowly, he took us to the bridge, at a pace suited to a funeral march, or one's own execution.

We stared at the navigation console for several minutes, thinking private thoughts.

Jacob spoke first, "Esplin… this is the first time we've had the choice of doing something dangerous or not, and well… in case our luck doesn't hold…"

I waited. His thoughts were too turbulent and scattered for me to get a picture of what he meant to say.

"I just want to say… in the last six years of hell, you're the closest thing to a friend I've had. Thank you," Jacob's voice caught, and I felt the edges of his need for a friend. The intensity of the need scared me.

((Well, in the first three months of captivity you dragged me into, I wished I'd never met you, Jacob Nyles. This last week has made me revise my opinion of you)) I said hesitantly.

"Oh? Hopefully for the better," Jacob muttered.

((You are impulsive, arrogant, headstrong, idealistic, naive, petty, ruthless, and annoying to the extreme… but I don't know what I'd do without you now)) I admitted.

"Um… okay. Kind of a blunt hammer approach there… but… thank you, Esplin," Jacob said, oddly touched.

((Now that we've bared our respective souls and said our last words, can we get this over with?)) I demanded.

Jacob laughed, "Fair enough. Do your thing, Esplin… and if we die, I'm going to hold you responsible. So no pressure."

I told him where he could put his "no pressure" and he laughed, right up until I jumped us into Z-space.

Then we were too busy for laughter.


	4. Chapter 4: Hazards

**Jacob Nyles:**

Say what you will about yeerks, they're nobody's fool when it comes to technology. I didn't understand half the things Esplin did with my hands, but I knew the reason: To keep us alive.

To my inexperienced eye, it seemed like things were going pretty good for the first four hours. That should have been my first warning sign. Our luck _sucks_.

((Fifty-seven minutes until Z-space exit portal is reached. Z-space resonance field at 47.43% integrity)) Esplin reported grimly.

A shudder ran through the ship. I didn't ask what it was. If it was important, then Esplin would take care of it. Distracting it wouldn't help.

((()))

"We crashing yet?" I asked, trying to keep our footing.

((Yes))

My hands, guided by a small, three inch long parasite trapped in my brain, tried to input course correction and minute adjustments on half a dozen sub-systems of the Skrit Na raider, which would somehow slow us down, and keep us from burning up on atmospheric entry. Something exploded below and behind us, sounding muted and angry.

"What was that?" I asked, only vaguely curious.

((Starboard interlink coupling. Life support was fried anyway)) Esplin reassured me.

"Oh, so nothing important," I breezed. _Keep it cool, Jacob. It's almost over_.

((Impact in fifty-three seconds. Redirecting lateral guidance thrusters to initiate sustained counter-burn. Brace us)) Esplin said tersely. I hooked my left knee around a protruding pipe by the piloting station. A second later, the ship tossed violently as the uneven counter thrust was engaged. The noise was _incredible_!

((Impact in forty-eight seconds!)) Esplin screamed in my head, to be heard.

_God, now would be a good time to show a little favor_, I thought desperately.

((I hope your god is good on short notice)) Esplin told me pessimistically.

"Why?!" I shouted.

((Because our trajectory took us over the continent. Pray for a very large lake, or some other body of fluid)) Esplin told me, distracted.

We were decelerating rapidly. The question; was it enough?

((Reversing polarity on the tractor beam, brace us!)) Esplin warned. The damned, devilishly clever little slug powered up the tractor beam, and turned it into a _pushing_ beam. We _were_ skimming only twenty meters above the grassy terrain, headed for a knobbly tree-line. When Esplin engaged the tractor beam, we popped up from the surface another ten meters, barely clearing the first of the "trees."

For about ten seconds, everything seemed, okay, actually. Precarious as hell, but okay. Then something exploded beneath us.

((The tractor beam power matrix overloaded from the reversed polarity)) Esplin snapped.

Then we dipped, and the hull started catching on the weird, fungus-like trees. It felt like I was standing on a giant drum-head during a Twisted Sister concert.

Esplin shouted something about structural integrity, and then we hit something _hard_, and everything turned off, like a switch was flipped. _Instantly_.

**Esplin 1894:**

Jacob was unconscious. That's not good. The last thing I saw through his eyes was a sudden expanse of water.

I had to wait until Jacob regained consciousness before I would be able to see anything else. Breathing in aquatic environments was _not_ one of Jacob's many talents.

Water splashed on Jacob's face. It was cold, wet, and we breathed some of it in. This revived Jacob, instantly, but something was wrong. He had no coordination, and his eyes weren't tracking together. His thoughts were fuzzy, and muddled. He could dimly perceive pain around his head, and I thought I recognized the smell of his metallic blood. Jacob was hurt, but I couldn't tell how badly… I could only learn what his body could tell me.

((Jacob!)) I shouted, trying to get his attention, but he wasn't "playing with a full deck" yet. From the blurry, nightmarish glimpses I was getting from his fluttering eyes, we were in a nightmare. Conduits sparked, illuminating the rapidly filling bridge, dark water pouring in through a breach in the anterior emergency air-lock. The air would escape through that hole, there would be no possibility of an air-pocket being trapped.

Besides, the longer we waited, the more the cold water would sap us, and the deeper we would sink. If we wanted to live, we had to leave, now.

"Jacob, we have to leave!" I shouted. It took me a moment to realize I had spoken, out loud. I frowned, and so did Jacob. With growing excitement, I clenched my fist, and so did Jacob.

It was up to me. Calmly, I staggered to the cold torrent, my control of Jacob made tenuous by his addled mental state. Some of the connections were missing, or absent. I hyperventilated deliberately as the water continued to pour in. I had to wait until the bridge finished filling. I could not force my way _out_ while water was pouring _in_. The water crept up past my chin, and I took one last, deep breath. I clamped down on the body's excitement, keeping the heart-rate as low as I could. The surge of water against our chest slowed to a trickle. _Now_. I opened our eyes, and located the hole in the ceiling. I pushed off from the deck, and through the ragged rent in the hull, roughly four meters long, and half a meter wide. Part-way out, something snagged, and I fought down panic. Calmly, I reached back, and found the problem: Jacob's pack, the fabric had snagged on the rough, rapidly cooled metal. I eased forward, and the pack slipped off the spur of metal. I pushed us all the way out, into the darkness, and kicked Jacob's strong legs. I gloried in the sensation of having a _body_, basking in the strong pulls of the arms, the sensation of lactic acid that began slowly, but continued to build. We swam up through the darkness, which began to brighten, slowly, from black, to dark green. Eventually, when Jacob's lungs were burning, I could see the surface, rippling above us. Ten meters. Jacob's body felt like it was frozen, and on fire at the same time. Nine meters. Eight.

I could do this. Seven. My limbs moved remotely, weakly, the strength gone. Six.

Black spots danced in our eyes, and the edges began to darken. Five.

Jacob was almost spent, his artificially enhanced endurance reaching its limits. Four.

((Jacob, help me!)) I screamed, trying to force us up by will alone. Nothing. Jacob's mind was still scrambled. He couldn't help.

I kicked again, weakly, and we rose a quarter meter. I pulled our arms down, cupping the water in our palms. We rose half a meter.

Come on! Three. The lack of oxygen began to affect me as well. I had my own supply, of sorts, but it would be depleted quickly. I could feel parts of me, spread over non-critical sections of Jacob's brain begin to shut down, shunting nutrients to my "core." This only bought me a few seconds.

Fuzzily, I wondered why I was fighting so hard. Funny. I didn't even feel the cold anymore. Thoughts slipped through me, mine or Jacobs, I didn't know. Was there a difference?

**Jacob Nyles:**

I was lying on a weird beach, I think. I'm pretty sure it could be called a beach… even if the "sand" was made of something that felt like… well, you know those foam pellets, in bean-bag chairs? It was like that… but heavier. I tried to sit up. I wiggled, that was all. Like a noodle. I tried to move again, with the same result. Have you ever woken up, on your face, and both of your arms have fallen asleep? Kind of hard to turn over…

I felt another spark of awareness begin to stir in the back of my head, like someone's breath on my neck.

((Jacob?))

"Yes?" I asked.

((Are we dead?))

"Death doesn't hurt this bad," I grumbled.

((Oh))

On my fourth attempt, I managed to roll onto my side. "How did we go from crashing, to lying on a beach?" I asked idly.

((You … weren't very cognizant, after the crash. I swam us to the surface)) Esplin said guiltily.

I knew I should feel alarm, but that was too much effort at the moment.

"You think I'm going to yell at you for saving us?" I asked wearily, "because I won't."

((You're too tired right now. You'll yell later)) Esplin answered.

"Probably," I admitted.

((Also, I smelled your blood, right after the crash. You might want to check for injuries))

"Yes _mom_," I groaned, falling on my favorite crutch: sarcasm.

((You're cold too. Might want to get out of these wet clothes before you kill both of us))

"You just want to get me naked," I suggested, wearily fumbling with the straps of the Minnie-mouse backpack.

((That too))

I had the shredded shirt off before I realized Esplin had made a joke. It was actually kind of funny too. I laughed, and it hurt, but I laughed anyway.

((It wasn't that humorous, stop laughing)) Esplin told me, annoyed. That simply made it funnier. My ribs screamed in protest as I laughed.

((Your pain is my pain, remember?)) Esplin snapped. That sobered me.

"Sorry."

((Check your ribs. I think a few on your left side might be broken))

"Terrific."

I gently probed them, and one of the floating ribs flared with angry fire, but the others just felt bruised. I checked the rest of me. There was a mean gash on the back of my head, a few cuts on my hands, and somehow, I'd managed to tear the fingernail off my right middle finger, which _stung_.

"Time for some Boy-scout-ery," I mumbled. The top half of my flightsuit was a lost cause, but, the fabric was still fairly sturdy, what scraps remained. I used some of it to pad my headwound, and another strip to tie it in place. I probably looked ridiculous.

((Don't be a child. The bleeding is under control now))

"But if I can't look stylish doing it, what's the point?" I argued.  
Esplin stepped back in my head, uneasy, and scrutinized me.

((You may have hit your head harder than I first thought))

I used the rest of my "shirt" to wrap up my broken rib, tying it tightly enough to immobilize it… which didn't feel good at all.

During this period of generally violent unwellness, I realized the mottled rock I had been staring at for the last seven minutes was bleeding. _Ergo_, not a rock. Boulder would be a better description. Then it stood up. It looked… hell, I don't know. It had a large bulgy body, with tentacle / arms that ended in hands. It had a pebbled, mottled color that matched the kaleidoscope of colors among the shroom-trees. It looked like a cross between a monkey and an octopus… but the size of a minivan. It was bleeding from a jagged, bloody section on its rump/head. Then we fell asleep again.

((()))

"We need a fire," I argued grimly, gathering the weird vegetation into a pile. It felt like plastic foam, but smelled like peach rinds.

((The emergency blanket will suffice, a fire can be seen for miles—))

"Overruled. We _need_ a fire. Do you remember that weird animal we saw a few hours ago?" I said.

((The herbivore? I doubt a flaming stick will be needed to keep so _dangerous _a creature at bay.)) Esplin said tartly.

"_Something_ took a good bite out of its ass, Esplin. It was the size of a goddamned _buffalo_."

((I fail to see the relevance—))

"Something else in this area eats the herbivores, perhaps several somethings. I'd rather have a nice fire, in addition to the Dracon beam."

Esplin cut my argument apart, and scrutinized it dispassionately. _Eventually _she came to the conclusion I had jumped to, upon seeing the fresh bite and claw marks on the haunch of the herbivore.

((Your argument has… merit…)) Esplin allowed.

"Glad you approve."

((We survived the mist-world)) Esplin said confidently.

That brought back things… things best left forgotten.

"Let's not think about that…" I suggested quietly. A few of the nastier bits flashed through my head before I could think about something else.

((Sorry))

((()))

That night, something came. I couldn't see it, even with my eyes, and the fire. I picked up one of the baseball-sized rocks, collected earlier. I tracked the slithering noise, and hurled the stone. It hit _something_, which hissed angrily, like a hundred snakes.

"How long is the day-night cycle?" I asked Esplin. She flipped back through our memories, to the bridge of the Skrit Na raider, specifically, the navigation computer.

((The entire rotation takes eighteen hours, so about six hours of darkness))

"Terrific."

((Keep it away for another four hours))

"Working on it,"

((()))

In the morning light, the _thing_ retreated, before I could really get a look at it. I knew one thing though, when night fell, it would be back.

"So, hypothetically, where would an Andalite base _be_?" I asked. Esplin shrugged helplessly in my head, ((The Skrit Na only detected energy emissions. They didn't triangulate the base's location. It could be anywhere, and it won't be visible))

"That is just _fantastic_," I complained, scrutinizing the area around the campsite. Something had flattened the moss/grass stuff in a ring around the campsite, like a _big_ snake, or something. I put a pink rock down on a flat blue rock, and gave it a smack. The pink rock spun wildly, then came to a halt, the tapering point facing off into the mushroom jungle. "Well, let's go that way, until dark," I said.

((Such a scientific approach. It amazes me that your species does not yet possess deep-space capability)) Esplin commented darkly.

"No, but we've got Star Trek," I said smugly.

((If any other species devoted as much time and energy to escaping their pitiful reality through _fiction_, they would have been conquered or destroyed centuries ago. Only your isolated position in the galaxy has saved you from this))

"Yes, _master_," I chimed, rolling the thermal blanket up, and sticking it into my backpack. The camp was now officially _broken down._

((And that backpack is still hideous)) Esplin sniffed.

"Why this hatred for poor Minnie? What did she ever do to _you_?" I asked.

**Esplin 1894:**

I sat in the back of Jacob's head, miserably, as we romped through the alien foliage. He was having fun. I… was not. The humidity declined the farther from the lake we traveled, but the temperature was also dropping. The water of the lake was cold, however, so the reasons for this where unknown to me, and without a decent hand-scanner, I would likely never know the precise reason for this phenomena. I did have a theory, however.

The fungus based vegetation was producing the heat, but required moisture to do so. With less moisture, came less heat.

I acknowledge that it was a rather simple, and crude hypothesis, but without scientific instrumentation, there was no way to prove, or disprove it.

Jacob didn't overly mind the chill, but I was made of different "stuff." He could ignore it, I could not.

((At least get the blanket out)) I complained.

"Cold, little slug?" Jacob teased, stopping to languorously stretch, losing additional body heat in the process, ((Yes, I am)) I snapped.

"Fine, if it'll make you happy…" Jacob grumbled, pulling the thermal blanket out, and wrapped it loosely around his chest before slipping the backpack on over it, to hold it in place.

((Thank you)) I said acidly.

"You're worse than my ex-girlfriend," Jacob complained, "nothing was ever good enough for her, but at least _she_ said thank you like she meant it… even if she didn't."

((I've seen the memories you're referring to, and I am nothing like her)) I argued.

"Oh? Enlighten me. How are you two such complete opposites?" Jacob goaded.

I dimly perceived that he was trying to distract me; much like one keeps a needy child distracted and entertained.

((The greatest difference? I have none of her personal insecurities. I am what I am. I have no need to project my fear of inadequacy by making demands upon my sexual partner)) I pointed out smugly.

"I speak mannish, not girl. Lay it out in words small enough for my Y chromosome to understand."

((Very well. Courtney was _terrified_ that you'd leave her for a prettier girl, or one with larger cleavage))

"Courtney was a drop-dead ringer though, why would she—"

((This is pathetic. I'm not even your species, and you need dating tips from _me_?))

"Hey, girls aren't quite sane," Jacob argued.

((No, you're just too dense to see their reasoning)) I retorted, annoyed. Couldn't he _see_? I could clearly understand the reasoning behind Courtney's actions. It was weak, yes, but there had been "method" to her apparent "madness." Unfortunately, she did not understand Jacob very well at all. The tighter she tried to hold on to him, the stiffer his resistance became.

I had a sudden flash of insight, a burst of understanding. One of Jacob's old memories that had confounded me suddenly made a small amount of sense. It was a poster, from his high school. He had seen it one day, and it had made a very strong impression on him. The artwork was crude, little more than a child's crayon scribbling… but it was of a butterfly, fluttering out of an open jar. Beneath it had been written:

_"If you love something, you must set it free"_

It had been a protest poster of one kind or another, for some random civil activist movement. That part of the memory was blurred, so that only the poster remained.

I pondered the poster heavily, drawing uncomfortable parallels between my situation and other events in Jacob's life.

"You know what you need, Esplin?" Jacob suddenly said.

((What?)) I asked cautiously.

"You need a kitten," Jacob smugly assured me.

((A… kitten…)) I echoed.

"Yes! Think about it! _Kittens _spread happiness, like the opposites of rats with bubonic plague… only, it's the _warm fuzzies_ plague!" he said enthusiastically.

((What about Aunt Bernice? She loathed cats))

"Overruled, she was a complete _hag_," Jacob disagreed.

((She just didn't let you get away with anything))

"That too."

((And being violently allergic to cats had nothing to do with it))

"I think that was just for show," Jacob confided.

((You lie to yourselves almost as much as each other)) I sighed.

((()))

That night it _rained_. Jacob tried to keep the fire going, he really did, but within half an hour, the blaze sputtered, and died. In the darkness, something came for us. Jacob had his flashlight, and the Dracon beam out, but he was reluctant to use either tool, since there was no way to replenish them.

In that terrible darkness, we could hear the steady slithering noise of something approaching. Jacob's heart was beating like a "jackhammer." He was coiled, ready to fight, or run. Jacob being Jacob, he was more inclined to the former. For half a minute, there was silence, and the tension built. Finally, Jacob couldn't take it, and he flicked his flashlight on. In that light hundreds of eyes glinted at us in the darkness. Primal instincts from deep within Jacob stirred… from a time when his ancestors painted caves, and stood watch around fires, fighting things in the darkness. I suddenly understood his need for fire.

"What are you waiting for?!" Jacob snarled. The dying flashlight could do little more than illuminate the eyes of the creature, or creatures. The body remained cloaked in shadows.

Jacob raised the Dracon beam, and fired at one of the eyes. The lance of red light briefly illuminated something terrible. The creature shrilled in pain, and Jacob fired again. This time, I discerned what we were facing. It was like a snake, but covered in tentacles, each with an eye… and a serrated mouth on the end.

((Run))

((()))

I recognized the sound, above the sounds of us crashing through foliage, ((Atmospheric engines))

"Isn't that good? Yay, we're saved?" Jacob asked.

((More like _yay we're going to be executed_)) I replied.

"For what?"

((Espionage))

Jacob glowered at me, but I shrugged,

((You have a yeerk in your head. We're on a planet where the Andalites _just happen_ to be conducting top-secret research. What would you think?))

"Point taken, but how are we going to get off this planet?"

((Simple. We need to find the base, sneak in, and steal a ship))

"That's simple?" Jacob complained.

((_or_ we can live in the "shroom-jungle" until something eats us, or you die of old age))

For a single, terrifying second, he considered doing just that.

"How are we going to find the base though?" Jacob asked again.

((Well… I might have a plan…)) I hedged.

**Jacob Nyles:**

Esplin showed me how to reconfigure the short-range communications relay to emulate a damaged distress beacon, of Hawjabran origin. With the tools in my pack, it was actually pretty simple. The differences were based on the length of the transmitted pulses, the specific carrier frequency used, and the oscillating pattern of pulse strength. I jury-rigged one of the spare Dracon beam power cells into the transmitter, to boost signal strength. It would quickly deplete the cell, mimicking a damaged transmitter as the signal strength decreased. Esplin was actually quite pleased with herself.

"So, once they land, how am I supposed to sneak past people who have 360 degree vision?" I asked.

((You don't. Your vessel crashed, while running a routine sweep of the system. You swam to shore. Three days later, the yeerk in your head died, leaving you alone, on an alien world. You are confused, scared, and angry. You activated the distress call, to bring the yeerks to you, where you had a less than intelligent scheme to get on board and go down in a blaze of glory, killing every yeerk you could get your hands on))

I mulled over this cover story. It sounded a lot like me. "Wait, can't they tell you're in my head?" I asked.

Esplin shrugged, ((Most handscanners can't detect the minute variations in brain activity, which signal infestation, especially against a host's normal brain activity. Far simpler to wait three days, and cheaper too))

"So if they don't wait three days, then what?" I asked.

((Unless they've taken base-line readings on the host prior to infestation, there's no way they can detect me… now, they might pick up the kandrona in your system, but that's only if they run a complete, in depth scan. Kandrona is a rare substance, and hard to scan for, since the ionization from the scanner usually forces it to decay into its base particles))

I considered the plan. I liked the plan.

Thus, it must be a bad plan.

But we did it anyway.

((()))

I sat in the clearing, the Dracon beam slipped into the cargo pocket on my pants. The transmitter sat beside me, and after the first hour, I pulled out the book from its plastic baggie, and flipped it open.

((Beauty and the Beast?)) Esplin asked, nonplussed.

((It's a timeless classic)) I protested silently.

((And it's unabridged…)) Esplin continued, annoyed. She couldn't read it any better than I could, for obvious reasons. That didn't keep me from trying. Eventually, Esplin joined in, offering possible suggestions for the meaning of archaic phrases. It almost became a game, trying to decipher the intent behind the words.

((This _Gaston_ is the hero?)) Esplin asked.

((Depends on how you look at it))

((The author has clearly cast him as the protagonist. He is successful, handsome, and a competent warrior, by the author's reckoning. The _Beast_ has done unkind things to Belle, and is holding her prisoner. He must be the antagonist)) Esplin stated.

((Not everything is black and white)) I replied cryptically. Esplin tried to peek at my memories, but I kept her out.

((Nope. I'm not letting you know how it ends. You'll just have to read it too, and draw your own conclusions)) I said smugly.

((You are impossible)) Esplin complained.

((Perhaps)) I echoed loftily.

((()))

Night was starting to fall and The Creeper was back.

"Hello, bastard. Miss me?" I asked conversationally. The monster approached warily. It remembered the sting of my weapon.

"Let's resume where we left off last night," I suggested, and opened fire. The monster screamed and reared back, revealing its terrifying size, and I continued to calmly do my damndest to dismember it. If nothing else, the shooting might get the Andalites attention. After a few minutes, the scorched and shriveled thing retreated back into the night keening softly, sounding almost like a child… but I wasn't fooled, and felt no pity.

I checked the charge on my weapon. 14%.

A spotlight flared to life, illuminating me. I raised a hand to shield my eyes… but I could still make out the outline of the craft.

((Is that…)) I trailed off, fear coursing through me.

((Yes)) Esplin answered grimly, ((It's a yeerk craft))

((Well, I guess it's not a cover story anymore)) I said angrily.

((Um, Jacob… don't let them take me back… the things they will do to me…)) Esplin trailed off fearfully.

((Just close your eyes. I'll take care of this)) I promised.

I could feel Esplin rolling her figurative eyes at me. I waved enthusiastically to the yeerk ship, which slowly set down. It was some sort of scout ship. A hatch opened, and a  
Hork-bajir stepped out, panning his Dracon beam over the clearing. He shouted at me in _galard_, and I laughed, walking forward.

"It's about time someone came to get me! I'm on my third day! You don't have a pool onboard, do you?" I asked tightly. The Hork-bajir nodded, and gestured for me to board, quickly. I hopped inside, and the hatch sealed.

((Jacob, this isn't a yeerk vessel)) Esplin suddenly said, alarmed.

Ah… clever bastards.

((Time to put my acting skills to the test))

I smiled and nodded to the Hork-bajir, "Lead on," I said. The alien turned, and as it did, I kicked the back of its knee. There are many differences in anatomy, but a knee is a basic hinge, and behaves the same, regardless of species. I made a clumsy grab for the Dracon beam in its hand, _somehow_ managing to knock the thing out of reach instead, "Damn it! Die yeerk! Die!" I screamed, pounding at the Hork-bajir with my fists, trying to draw my own Dracon beam. The hork-bajir saw it, and struck back, knocking the weapon from my grip. I landed a hefty blow on its throat, making it gag. Then something hit me like a load of bricks, and I collapsed.


	5. Chapter 5: Games

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I lowered my shredder, and chuckled. Cheegan-Estrif-Valad didn't find anything amusing about the situation. ((The human tried to kill me, and you find it amusing?))

((You were in no real danger)) I pointed out.

((It almost pulled a weapon on me, _twice_)) Cheegan protested.

((Good. You're out of practice. You needed some… refining… and by a _human_, no less. It doesn't even have a tail for balance, and _still_ it made you fall down)) I scoffed.

((It's stronger than it looks)) Cheegan answered ruefully.

((Indeed… and we now have an interesting puzzle)) I said cheerfully, keying the access panel back to the bridge. Behind me, Cheegan dragged the unconscious human towards a containment cell. I dropped the hologram on the _Chazaar_, revealing her as a deep space Andalite reconnaissance craft. Within minutes, we were on course for the research facility. I had been bored almost to death in the past months. Although this was a prestigious posting, it had not really tested my skills… but this human might dispel some of the monotony. I love puzzles.

**Esplin 1894:**

((That went well)) Jacob commented dryly.

((Indeed. We are now prisoners))

((How did you know?)) Jacob asked, curious.

((I'm… not sure. Obviously they used a holographic sheathe to disguise the vessel, but… I think it was the Hork-bajir))

((In what way?)) Jacob asked.

((We have so few Hork-bajir, only the best of our warriors are given them. They all have… an edge to them, a coldness. This Hork-bajir did not. Also, he did not seem comfortable with the Dracon beam in his hand)) I suggested hesitantly.

((They will most likely use a biometric scanner on you, so whatever you say, keep it truthful))

((Can I use truths, from a certain point of view?)) Jacob asked, referencing another of his fictional movies.

((You can… but try to avoid doing so)) I advised.

Conversation subsided after that.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

After a thorough scan detected no additional transmitters or weapons on the human, I landed the _Chazaar_ in the main landing cradle, and transferred the sedated human to a more secure holding cell. I examined the human's effects carefully, but they held no real clues for me. I caught movement in the cell behind me, and turned.

((You are awake, yeerk. Good)) I said coldly, watching the human. The human laughed at me.

"I can see why she hated you Andalites. You really _are_ arrogant bastards."

Some of the human's words did not correctly translate, implying that they were expletive in nature.

The important parts translated correctly though. The human, obviously male, had referred to an unknown female, in past tense, and her hatred of Andalites. I could easily deduce the obvious implications, but I continued, as if I were dim-witted.

((I wish to know how much you have learned, yeerk, and if you have told anyone)) I walked to the containment field threateningly. The human stood, and stared at me,

"I've survived six years of hell in my own head. There's _nothing_ you can do to me, worse than _that_," the human snarled. Good. Anger clouds rational thought.

((How did you find us?)) I barked.

The human laughed at me again, "She never _found_ you, Andalite. It was just a quick sweep of the system, then we were supposed to go somewhere else. It was _routine_."

I was beginning to suspect that one of my theories was true, but it was still too soon.

((Who is this female you keep referring to?)) I questioned.

The human touched his ear, "The yeerk bitch that used to live in my head."

The amount of hatred and… loathing… in his voice was genuine.

((You told us that it was your _third_ day, human)) I reminded him.

"You looked like yeerks. How else was I supposed to get close?" the human asked.

((You claim your yeerk died of Kandrona starvation?)) I clarified. So far, nothing the human said had been a lie… and this was too pointed a question to be talked around.

"I am free," the human answered.

That was not a lie. But it was an evasion.

((Did the yeerk die?)) I demanded.

The human looked at me, "Yes and no."

((Explain))

"The yeerk is dead… but I still have some memories from it, things that are not mine, jumbled in my head. Bits of personality."

Ah… I had heard reports of such things, from captives whose' yeerks had starved.

This was also, apparently, true.

I considered the human. ((What was your plan, exactly? Why activate a distress beacon?))

He shrugged, "It's not exactly easy to survive in the wild out there. Not without a Dracon beam. Besides, I didn't want to die, marooned here. I want to make the yeerks hurt, just like they made me hurt. I can't do that here. If I called a ship though… and then slaughtered every single yeerk bastard onboard…" the human trailed off suggestively.

((A bold, but foolish plan)) I criticized.

The human shrugged, "We all die, the only questions that matter are when, why, and how."

I liked this human.

But I did not trust him.

((()))

((Uncle, can I see the prisoner?)) Sonili asked me. I chuckled, ((No, you cannot. It is classified)) I told her seriously.

((But, there's nothing to _do_ here. Mother never leaves the laboratory, and you are always in the security station. There's no one else I can play with)) my niece complained.

((What about Bellai?)) I suggested.

((Bellai?! She's three years younger than me! She's a child!)) Sonili protested. I shook my head fondly at my twelve year old niece. The travesties of youth.

((My goodness, three years? I'm sorry for suggesting such a thing. It is unthinkable that you two should ever speak, or even interact. What was I thinking?)) I apologized.

((You're making fun of me, Uncle)) Sonili said sullenly.

((Yes I am)) I admitted, and tickled her.

She screamed and darted away across the field, her knobby legs pounding. She would be just as breathtaking as her mother in another three years, but until then, she would be awkward and skinny. Most of the awkwardness was merely in her head.

**Esplin 1894:**

((I spy… something starting with… _T_)) Jacob said.

((Toenails))

((Nope)) Jacob said smugly, shielding the thought from me.

((Trousers))

((Cold))

((Toes))

((Colder))

((Thigh?))

((Warmer))

((Testicles)) I suggested.

((Oh come on, you can't even see those!)) Jacob complained, ((play the game right!))

I laughed to myself. Baiting Jacob was almost as amusing as playing his insipid "Car-ride" games from his childhood.

((Tiny testicles?)) I ventured innocently.

((Shut up, Esplin)) Jacob fumed.

Jacob refused to speak to me. That lasted almost five minutes.

((Thumb))

((Excuse me?)) I asked, startled.

((The word was "thumb")) Jacob grumbled.

((Are we still playing?)) I asked.

((Yes))

((Thumb)) I promptly replied.

((This is a new round)) Jacob protested.

((You never said when I had to tell you what the word was)) I pointed out.

Jacob glowered at me. He wasn't going to get into a battle of technicalities with me, he'd learned better than that. So he conceded the point to me, with poor grace.

It was my turn now.

((I'm thinking of a word that starts with… Andalite?)) I stuttered.

((Esplin it has to be a letter to— oh)) Jacob noticed the small andalite watching us from the door to the security room.

((What's going on?)) Jacob asked.

((I have no idea)) I admitted.

((Let's just play it cool)) Jacob decided.

((How else could we "play it?")) I inquired.

The andalite had pale violet hair that marked her as female. She had something in her hands, but it was forgotten, as she stared at us.

((Should I say something?)) Jacob wondered.

((No. You look competent, until you open your mouth)) I counseled, ((Try ignoring her))

Reluctantly, Jacob went back to looking at his hands, examining the cuts and nicks he had acquired. One of them was a weird shade of purple.

((I think I have tetanus)) Jacob decided.

((You don't have tetanus)) I said tiredly.

((How do you know? Are you a doctor? Dr. Yeerk?))

((Technically, by your understanding, yes, I do have a "doctorate.")) I replied.

((What's she doing?)) Jacob whispered. Unnecessary in our own head. As if someone might _overhear_?

We both watched the andalite girl out of the corner of our eyes, as she manipulated the hand device.

((Are you a yeerk spy?)) a new voice joined in. It was starting to feel a little crowded in Jacob's head.

"Maybe," Jacob said, "maybe not."

The andalite peered at the instrument for a moment, as if consulting it.

((Jacob, I think that's a hand-held universal translator. She doesn't look old enough for the neural implant version)) I suggested.

((You're probably right…)) Jacob agreed.

((Are you unsure if you are a yeerk spy, or are you unwilling to tell me if you are?)) the girl asked.

"Either, both, and neither," Jacob said, unable to keep the grin off his face.

This upset the girl, ((You're making fun of me))

"Just a little bit," Jacob admitted.

((I think you _are_ a yeerk spy!)) the girl accused. Jacob shrugged, "I guess we'll find out in three days then, won't we?"

((You don't have to have a yeerk in your head to be a spy for them. The Skrit Na spy for the Yeerks, and they aren't being controlled))

Jacob squinted at her with a touch of respect, "That's actually a pretty good point… but the yeerks don't have to be in their head to control them. The Skrit Na are enslaved all the same."

This piqued the girl's interest. Ah, an intellectual.

((Explain your reasoning))

Jacob took a moment to gather his reasoning into a form that could be presented.

"The Yeerks are not just master enslavers, they're also master manipulators… and quite frankly, the Skrit Na are pretty easy to manipulate. Offer them a deal, and they'll haggle, and barter, but eventually, they will accept. It's in their nature," Jacob explained. My barbarian was becoming a better thinker. This made me proud. Jacob shot an annoyed thought at me, but kept his attention on the girl.

The door opened behind the girl, and a _second_ girl stood frozen in the doorway. She too had a hand-held universal translator in her hand, but it was a much smaller model. Also, the two Andalites looked _identical_.

Jacob squinted at the girl in front of him, "More holograms?" he complained.

((Yes. More holograms)) the girl chuckled, and the voice in our head suddenly changed cadence and pitch, back into the voice of our interrogator. The hologram disappeared, replaced by the much larger Andalite.

"How is something larger concealed by a hologram smaller than it?" Jacob asked, puzzled.

The andalite male reached back, and his hand shimmered through the nearby console.

"Ah… you're not even here," Jacob realized.

((Just a holographic projection, and some remote manipulation of door controls)) the interrogator confirmed. The girl jumped suddenly, as if someone had started yelling at her, and fled the room. The interrogator didn't miss a beat.

"Still, it was a pretty good trick," Jacob pointed out.

((It _was_. Somehow, I doubt it will still be effective))

"Oh, by the way, I was wondering… the Hork-bajir I attacked. No lasting damage, right? I hit his trachea pretty hard…" Jacob actually managed to sound worried, while simultaneously trying to sound like he _didn't_. I applauded his performance.

((Only his pride was damaged in any lasting way))

"Good. Can't let the underlings get complacent, after all," Jacob replied blithely.

((Complacent indeed))

The interrogator turned to leave, and Jacob asked, "Could I have something?"

The Andalite paused, and regarded Jacob, ((It depends on the item))

"There was a book, in my bag. Could I have it?"

((The bound collection of fibrous sheets, with human writing on them?)) the Andalite clarified.

"That would be it," Jacob confirmed.

((We will see))

((()))

When we woke the next "morning" there was a familiar paper-back book waiting beside us.

((Well, he doesn't seem so bad)) Jacob decided, flipping to the last page we'd been reading, before The Creeper had shown up.

((We'll probably finish this book in the next two days. Then what will we do?)) I asked grimly.

((Well, there's always checkers)) Jacob suggested.

((Never mind))

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I observed the human "reading" his crude information storage device. It was actually quite elegant in its simplicity. It had taken me several hours to translate the pages manually, and give the contents a cursory check, but it appeared to be nothing more than an account of a past fictional or historical event. It was entirely possible there was a hidden code, but if so, the information was one way. Seventy-two hours had already passed, but I did not inform the human of this, and he had shown no signs of discomfort beyond intense boredom. I had also given Sonili a very stern lecture. She had reconfigured a hand-held universal translator to mimic my thought-speak, and a strand of my fur to fool the security precautions. I gave her credit for inventiveness, but I dreaded her coming rebellion stage. She would be a terror.

I snapped from my thoughts, realizing that the human was doing something. He was busy uprooting the grass in his cell. I leaned closer to the monitor. Within minutes he had a roughly square section of dirt, about half a meter to a side. Then he used his finger to draw criss-crossing lines in the dirt, in a rough grid pattern. Had isolation caused the human to go insane? He began shredding some of the different colored grasses, making a pile of green, and blue plant material. Was this some kind of ritual perhaps?

**Jacob Nyles:**

((This is not a good idea)) Esplin said again.

((Shush. Unless you want to play I Spy))

((No. Never again))

((Then we're playing checkers. If anyone asks, it's a single player game, like Solitare))

There was silence for several minutes as I set all twenty-four pieces of grass in position.

((I want to be blue)) Esplin said suddenly.

((Any particular reason?)) I asked curiously. There had been a quiet intensity in her thoughts.

((I would rather be blue, than green)) Esplin said evasively.

((No-way. What's the reason? If you don't tell me, then you're going to play as green)) I threatened.

((I prefer the color blue, to the color green)) Esplin eventually admitted.

((Yeerks have favorite colors?)) I asked, almost out loud.

((Everything has favorites)) Esplin retorted hotly, but she was still hiding something. I had pushed her enough though, anymore and she wouldn't play… and I was bored.

((Very well. Blue your are, then. You can go first)) I offered. I relaxed my left arm, and it moved independent of my will, placing a blue piece into another square.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I could not deduce the meanings behind the movements. It was clearly a game of some sort. The rules were simplistic, but the movements chaotic. The hands seemed to move independent of each other, following two different strategies. After a few hours, I looked away, and focused on my reports… but the nagging thought that I was missing something kept eating at me. It refused to leave me alone. I was staring at the answer, I knew, but could not perceive it.

Someone knocked at my door, and I opened it, distracted. It took me a moment to realize my daughter had entered.

((What is it, Sonili?)) I asked.

((The human knows to look for holograms. What if I tried, instead of you?)) she said bluntly, not even trying to conceal her intentions.

((He would speak to you?)) I asked skeptically.

((He did when he thought he was speaking to me)) she pointed out. I looked at the mysterious game again, and tasted the bitterness of defeat. I sighed, ((Very well, but don't tell your mother))

**Esplin 1894:**

I peered at my soldiers intently, and glanced again at Jacob's own forces. I was winning.

((You haven't won yet)) Jacob said, sourly.

I moved another trooper to harass his left side.

((Left _flank_)) Jacob corrected, moving a green soldier to reinforce the line where it had weakened.

I harried his right flank, and let the attack fall flat, before turning my attention back to his left. Emboldened, Jacob made a sortie on the right, taking two of my pieces in a single move. His satisfaction turned to horror as I coldly sprung my trap, slipping a pawn through the gap in his defenses, and turning it into a king, before tearing his defenses apart from within. He had no kings of his own, and was helpless. If he moved his pieces, my remaining pawns would take them. If he maintained formation, my king would take them. Unable to sit by and be slaughtered, Jacob made a desperate attack on my lines, throwing his soldiers away, trying now to simply take as many of my pieces as he could before defeat.

He would have made a poor general. He was too intent on keeping his pieces alive, rather than achieving victory.

((Is it a war game?)) a voice asked.

Startled, Jacob let out a choked curse, and we looked up. The Andalite girl was back.

((If so, your left hand has the winning strategy))

"Maybe it's a reenactment," Jacob hedged, stopping the game. He still hadn't taken back his left arm, so I pinched him.

((What?)) he demanded.

((Keep playing. If you suddenly stop, it looks suspicious)) I said.

Within a minute the game was over, our movements quick and inevitable. I won, but only my King and a single pawn survived Jacob's all-out counterattack.

Jacob took back his arm, somewhat sharply, and peered at the girl.

"Now, are you really a girl, or your father?" he asked. Father?

The girl seemed rattled, ((Father? No, he's my father's brother))

"Did you come here for a reason?" Jacob asked.

((The game you were playing earlier… can two people play?)) the girl asked.

"Perhaps. There's another game I know, but I can't play anything that complicated with bits of grass and dirt," Jacob said.

((You can't leave the cell, if that's what you're suggesting)) the girl said nervously.

Jacob sighed, "No, that's not what I'm asking. Obviously if you released me, I'd overpower you, steal your hand device, and proceed on a rampage through the facility in my underwear, using your device to subdue every single Andalite warrior in single combat."

The girl stared at Jacob, and so did I. It was hard to tell who was more incredulous.

_"Or…_ you could figure out a way to make a holographic board and pieces…" Jacob suggested.

((I will do that)) the girl stammered, and trotted to the console.

((What was this about rampage and underwear?)) I asked.

((That got your attention, did it?)) Jacob asked idly.

((Why are you testing her?)) I asked.

((Boredom))

As good an answer as any, I suppose.

Within ten minutes, Jacob had talked the girl through creating an 8x8 horizontal grid, with alternating checkered boxes. In addition, she had created various pieces in black and white colorations, (pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, queens, and kings). She had also created a dual board, one on Jacob's side of the containment field, and one on her side. Move a piece on one, and the movement mirrored on the other board. She had done that last part on her own.

"This game is called _Chess_," Jacob said with relish.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I watched my daughter speak with the human, and paid particular interest as he began to teach her to play this new game. Much can be learned from how one being teaches another. My daughter quickly grasped the basic concepts of the game, earning the human's approval. That is not to say he made it easy for my daughter. He crushed her within ten minutes during her first game, losing only his knights, a bishop, and a pawn. However, when the game was over, the human went back and revisited her mistakes, suggesting better alternatives to her actions.

The second game, it took him twenty minutes to beat her, and he lost nearly half of his pieces. Once again, the human reviewed the game and her movements. My daughter is an impatient student, and did not suffer defeat gladly… but she made the attempt anyway, which impressed _me_. The human did not give her anything. By the end of their fourth game, she had _earned_ a narrow stalemate with the human, a tie. The game was of interest to me as well now. It had a quaint charm to it, far removed from our more physical games. This was a game of focused contemplation. We had many games with balls and opposing teams, but that was a civilized warrior's game. This though, was a game played by barbarian _warlords_.

**Esplin 1894:**

((She has you)) I told Jacob smugly. He ignored me, and continued his gambit anyway. The Andalite girl did not accept the bait (a bishop), instead, she snipped the snare on his trap by taking his lightly defended knight instead. While Jacob had played his games with the Andalite, I had been watching them _both_. It was still too soon for the girl to have a cohesive playing style, which made her somewhat unpredictable. Jacob on the other hand, had a _very_ distinctive style. He was like a magician. He liked to throw up a distracting screen of glitter, while his true moves were hidden deftly behind more aggressive positioning. He also relied on guerilla tactics, rapid attacks and retreats, using his pawns as little more than cover for his more mobile pieces. And he led from the front, using his king occasionally to lock down pieces from attack. As before in our checker games, I noticed a distinct unwillingness to sacrifice pieces, which sharply limited many of his strategies.

That is not to say he didn't sacrifice any pieces… but when it happened, it was more of losing a gamble, than intentionally letting the piece be taken. He usually had a back-up plan though, that would capitalize on the loss of that piece.

As I have said before, humans are full of contradictions, most of them based upon perception.

"I'll be damned," Jacob said, startled, "Check-mate,"

((I told you so))

((No one likes a smart-ass)) Jacob replied without heat.

The andalite girl looked up, ((I won?))

"Yes, you won. Now, what could I have done differently?" Jacob asked. The girl seemed off-balance by the question.

((But, you have played this game longer than I have, shouldn't you be telling me?)) she asked.

Jacob held up a finger, "Who won?" he asked.

((I did)) the girl replied.

((So your strategy must have been superior. As the victor, it is your responsibility to educate your defeated opponent. In this way, both are stronger for the next engagement))

((A curious view of war, human)) another voice said. The girl looked up as the interrogator entered, and moved to leave, but the male bade her wait with a flick of his hand.

((See, I am not mistaken, Jacob. He believes your ideas are strange as well)) I said smugly.

((You claim that educating a defeated enemy makes both stronger, please elaborate)) the male continued.

"Because in the end, you have lost an enemy, but gained a friend," Jacob answered softly.

The Andalite looked at us with those inscrutable eyes for several long seconds.

((My people were once as idealistic as yours, human… but the galaxy is a harsh place))

"Tell me, which fate is worse: to lose your people, or for the thing that makes your people who they are to be lost?" Jacob asked sharply.

I felt a crumbling sensation in my figurative chest. Either way, my race was damned.

((Empty words are worthless. Would you face me, instead of a child?)) the Andalite asked, gesturing to the holographic chess boards.

"Of course." Jacob said. The pieces on the boards reset.

((Alright Esplin, your turn)) Jacob said.

((What?)) I asked, startled.

((He's watched me play several games. He knows how I will react. I know you've been watching us play. We need to win)) Jacob said tensely.

Suddenly the conversation took on new meaning. ((But that's so… primitive…)) I complained, a trial by combat? Through a board game?

((You can beat him. I know you can)) Jacob answered simply.

((I don't want to)) I said stiffly.

((Please?)) Jacob asked. I stared at him for a frozen moment.

((Fine… but I get to move _both_ hands, and eyes)) I countered.

((Move what you wish)) Jacob answered, relaxing his control. He got up from the controls, as it were, and let me sit down. I looked down at Jacob's hands, then at the board.

"Let's play," I said.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

The human's mannerisms changed, subtly, as if shedding a mask. His strategies in the game changed _entirely_. I understood finally, what the human had been doing. He had let me observe his movements, and then challenge him, confident in my understanding of his tactics… but now he used a different set of strategies on me. If all humans were like him, then I shuddered to think what they might be capable of if they possessed proper warships.

The most maddening part of this game, was his opening move. He marched his War-prince, which represented the player, to the front of his battle line, to stand at the head of his forces. It was a clear challenge, and radically different from his earlier moves. Such an exposed position was untenable, I was certain… yet every attempt I made to capture that most critical piece, ended in the loss of _my_ piece. Seemingly from nowhere, at the last moment, a piece would subtly move, protecting the War-prince from harm, and trapping my attacking piece. It was maddening. Within ten minutes, our armies had been severely depleted, with only a handful of pieces on either side. I threw my prince at his right flank, trying to force his War-prince into the corner. Instead, his war-prince advanced, slowly dragging his Firsts, two _arisths_, and XO forward as well, in concert. My Prince fell, two moves later, taking his First, but this ultimately allowed one of his _arisths_ to reach the end of the board, and become a prince. With that prince, he cornered my War-prince, and left his own war-prince to keep my war-prince trapped, since I could not move into "check." With that, he tore the rest of my pieces apart with his resurrected prince. Seven moves later, I stared at the board, unable to comprehend… how?

The human sat back, and crossed his arms, regarding me levelly through the containment field.

"Do you wish to know what you could have done differently?" he asked.

I swallowed my pride, ((If you would))

The human smiled, "Very well, the game hinged on this moment, here, when you committed your queen—" the human continued to speak, but I did not hear his words, precisely. I was listening to his character.

((()))

Later, as I grazed in the main meadow, Sonili found me. ((Uncle…)) she started quietly.

((What is it, sun-flower?))

((About the human… is he deceiving us?))

((Yes)) I said simply. He was withholding something. The sooner I could crack the encryption on the yeerk memory crystal, the answers would be mine, of that much I was sure.

((Tomorrow… may I play with him again?)) Sonili asked timidly.

((If I say no, you will find some way to do so anyway)) I chuckled. My niece remained suspiciously silent.

((Yes)) I sighed, my thoughts returning to the memory crystal.


	6. Chapter 6: Disruption

**Jacob Nyles:**

I woke up to find a purple deer-girl watching me expectantly. I groaned, "What time is it?" I mumbled, trying to stretch the kinks out of my back.

((The artificial sun has been up for thirty minutes))

"Terrific," I grumbled, but the girl endured my grumpiness, and eventually I was in a state fit for social interaction.

((Not really…)) Esplin remarked _un_helpfully.

We played six more games of Chess. I came closest to winning in the first game, and steadily less with each game. Finally, in the sixth game, when I lost, having only taken six of her pieces, I called a halt.

"I have nothing left to teach you, my young apprentice," I intoned ominously.

The girl shrank away, unnerved, and I laughed while Esplin rolled her eyes at me, bored.

"I'm just joking," I told her, "But on a serious note, don't abuse the power you've gained, alright? It wouldn't be very responsible of me."

((Power? What power?)) the girl asked, confused.

"I assume there are other youngsters here, right?" I asked.

((Yes…)) the girl answered warily

"And there isn't a whole lot to do, right?" I continued.

((Usually…))

"And now, you have mastered a new game that your friends have never _heard_ of… in a very boring place… with nothing else to do…" I hinted, and her eyes suddenly lit up as she realized what I was implying.

((Oh! I understand!))

I rubbed my eyes, "I've only got a handful of games left, that I know well enough, anyway, to teach someone else, but Chess was the best one."

((You know _other_ games?)) the girl asked eagerly.

((Most of the others are _card _games, and I doubt strip-poker would catch on here)) Esplin noted wryly.

"Well, there's Uno, Monopoly, Jinga, Go Fish, Spades, Solitaire, Hop-scotch, Spoons, Stratego… hmm… there might be a few others floating around, but I can't think of them right now," I counted off carefully. I know there was at least one other game I knew, but I couldn't…

((Spider Solitaire?)) Esplin suggested.

"Oh, and Spider Solitaire," I threw in, "But it's been a long time since I've been able to play them with someone else."

((Why?)) the girl asked, guileless.

"Because, honey, as a rule, Yeerks don't play games. They're usually too busy trying to subvert the galaxy…" I said sadly.

((Oh. I'm sorry)) the girl told me quietly.

((I play games)) Esplin said indignantly.

((You aren't the rule, Esplin)) I told my friend quietly.

"Which game sounds interesting?" I asked.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I stared at the computer screen, feeling a moment of satisfaction.

**DECRYPTION COMPLETE**

((Access files, and index)) I commanded. The computer took several seconds to do so, and then brought up a menu, organizing the information. There were nodes for the craft's system data, another for sensor records, internal recordings, flight plans, maintenance logs, combat efficiency, and a few other trivial groups. Some of the files had been corrupted, which surprised me. Yeerk computer components were crude, but more resilient than most Andalite equivalents. To damage a _Yeerk_ memory crystal… only a handful of possibilities came to mind. Ionizing radiation, incompetent memory purge, major physical trauma…

I scrolled through the flight logs, nothing really of note. The craft had patrolled the same region of space for several months… until… the crystal's retrieval was incomplete for the last several months recorded. Annoyed, I scanned the maintenance record, and noted that there was no official maintenance after a point three and a half months ago. The computer had noted major structural damage, and undocumented modifications to ship systems. _Three and a half months ago_. With rising alarm, I accessed the internal records. I saw the human pull himself into the interior of a bugfighter, obviously without gravity. He dropped the Dracon beam in his hand, I noticed that it was half-depleted.

He awkwardly powered up the fighter, and I checked external logs as well. The human proceeded to destroy all of the other fighters in the hanger bay with him, before blasting the hanger door, and flying out into space.

I back tracked through the log, replaying the interior log from when I had left off:

~"Relax. I don't plan on getting captured – Looks different from the other side, huh? –

What, now you don't want to talk? – Oh, come on, if our roles were reversed you would have done the same. I was born free, and I plan on dying free. – I can live with that. You'll just be my shoulder demon."

A few moments later, my stomach squirmed in disbelief. Over the next three months, the computer had recorded continued verbal exchanges with an unknown entity. Either the human was insane or…

Where was my niece?!

**Esplin 1894:**

"Uno," Jacob said grimly, glancing from his red seven, to the red three he had placed over Sonili's green three. Her delicate fingers caressed one of her holographic cards and she glanced at him slyly. He had seen that look repeatedly,

"Oh no… what do you have?" Jacob groaned.

((I predict it is a Wild Draw 4)) I said brightly.

((It's a draw 2, a skip, or a reverse, it has to be)) Jacob argued.

Sonili placed a wild card down, ((Uno, and Blue)) she said. Jacob exhaled, held his breath, then drew a card. He peeked at it, then slammed it down in relief, "Uno and Red" he said, taking his hand off a second wild card.

((Thank you)) Sonili said, letting her red zero drop onto the pile. Jacob stared at the card in surprise.

((Admit it. She manipulated you)) I said smugly.

((Aren't you mortal enemies or something? Shouldn't you be on _my_ side?)) Jacob complained.

"Well, that is possibly one of the most intense games of Uno I have ever played," Jacob said wryly.

((Do you want to know what else you could have done?)) Sonili asked, her eyes still twinkling.

Jacob groaned, "This is a _card_ game. It's all about chance. You can't change _chance_."

((No, but you can factor probabilities, based on what cards have already been played))

Jacob's jaw dropped, "You were counting _Uno_ cards?"

((Sonili!)) a voice roared, and the big Andalite burst into the room, a shredder clenched in one fist. He saw his niece, and charged, shoving her behind him, so that he was between his brother's daughter and us. His alien nostrils flared heavily, he must have _galloped_ here.

((This doesn't look promising)) I said darkly.

The Andalite leveled the shredder at us, ((How?!)) he demanded

"How… what?" Jacob asked bemused.

((How do you still live, yeerk?)) the Andalite roared.

"Oh, _that_ how." Jacob said calmly, he sat back down on the grass, "do you want the long, or the short version?" he asked.

((Any version will do, before I disintegrate you, parasite!)) the warrior snarled.

Jacob shrugged, "I was an experiment, a test."

The andalite had begun to calm down, slightly, now that he knew his niece was safe. ((Explain!))

Jacob rolled his eyes, "Your Quantum Virus nearly annihilated—"

((Alleged Quantum Virus)) the warrior interrupted.

"Fine," Jacob sighed, "For some _inexplicable_ reason, most of the Hork-bajir suddenly _died_ in a most painful fashion, from effects identical to a Quantum virus, which coincided with the retreat of the routed Andalite forces…"

The Shredder whined as the Andalite raised the power setting.

"—which created a sudden, crippling shortage in the yeerk's pool of combat capable hosts. Now, a planet was discovered a few years later, and samples were seized. I was a sample. Now, this new species was adaptable, capable of speech, war, and fine manipulation of equipment… but compared to Andalites, or even Hork-Bajir, they were inferior, though plentiful…

The bastard they put in my head sought to _improve_ my race's usefulness. Thankfully, some of your ships crippled the base where he was working. Four days later, yeerk rescue teams found me, pinned underneath a girder. Esplin 469 was dead, but I still had some of his memories. So they put his assistant, Esplin 1894 into my head instead. My knowledge was _too valuable_ to dispose of me. She was… polite, to me." Jacob faltered, trying to choke back the black bile that had risen, with mention of his previous tormenter.

((He can't hurt you anymore, Jacob)) I whispered.

Jacob looked at me, ((If only that was true…))

"The experiments were carried out, successfully. During the field evaluation, I realized something extraordinary," Jacob came to the force field, and stared at the Andalite, only a few feet separating them.

"I had _free will_," he hissed. Jacob paced to the back of his cell and slumped down.

((That does not explain how the yeerk still lives)) the Andalite reminded us sharply.

"You talk to him," Jacob said tiredly, "You have a better idea of it than me."

"Fine," I said sullenly, Jacob let me turn his head, and I saw the loathing in the Andalites eyes, "Yeerk infiltrators are handicapped by the seventy-two hour limit before Kandrona starvation. If this could somehow be nullified, or circumvented, then there would be no way to detect or thwart our agents. My mentor envisioned turning the _pink monkeys_, as he termed them, into devastating agents of the Empire, without ever needing to visit a Yeerk pool. The kandrona implant has an… unfortunate side-effect, which renders it useless to a yeerk," I said sadly.

((What is this side-effect?)) the Andalite asked suspiciously.

"It weakens our control somehow, allowing the host to ignore us almost entirely, when they wish."

((There, I talked to him, now you finish)) I said tartly.

((Why should I believe any of this?)) the warrior demanded.

((Esplin, do you trust me?)) Jacob asked.

((Why?)) I asked, afraid.

((Do. You. Trust. Me?)) Jacob asked gently.

The answered terrified me:

((Yes))

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

The _controller _went quiet for a moment, then looked me in the eye. "You ask for proof, of my control? Very well." The human cupped one of his ears, and a _yeerk_ wriggled out, into his hand.

"Now do you believe me?" the human asked, clutching the parasite to his chest, as one might hold a child. Disgust filled me.

((Kill it)) I demanded.

The humans eyes hardened. _"No_."

I raised the shredder, my hand poised over the containment field controls.

((That was not a request)) I threatened.

"I won't let you hurt my friend," the human said quietly putting the hand with the slug behind his back, shielding it with his body.

((Yeerks don't have friends. They have slaves))

"This yeerk has a friend. Please, don't make me kill you. Your niece needs you." The human pleaded.

((Kill me? Unlikely)) I scoffed, missing the glint in the human's eye. He held his hand to his ear, "I warned you," the human said sadly.

((Enough, this farce ends here)) I slapped the controls, which dropped the field, and fired. The blast scoured the back wall of the cell, but the human was not there. In that split second he had dropped to all fours, and lunged beneath the shredder beam. In that terrible, slow-motion dance, I saw him rise beside me, even as I sought to turn the weapon, and I felt my fingers break as the human twisted the weapon away from me. My tail-blade snapped forward, to decapitate my attacker, but the human's free hand caught my tail below the blade, trapping it.

Time returned to normal, and I could smell burning flesh and fur. The hot tip of my shredder was shoved under my chin… but the human had not fired.

((Please Jacob, do not do this)) my brother's daughter begged.

"What else can I do, Sonili?" the human asked quietly, "If I let him go, next time, he will be sneakier, and kill us when we cannot fight back."

((Why wait?)) I roared, trying to ignore the throbbing ache in my hand.

The human looked at me quietly, "You are a coward in your heart. You fear to hope."

His thumb flicked, and everything turned white.

**Jacob Nyles:**

I looked down at the crumpled warrior.

((Uncle!)) Sonili screamed.

"He's only stunned, girl." I said quietly. The girl knelt awkwardly, holding her Uncle's torso, which rose and fell as he breathed.

"I'm sorry," I said. She didn't hear me.

((I can probably fly an Andalite craft)) Esplin offered hesitantly.

"We have to find it first." I muttered darkly. The alarm wasn't raised for another two minutes.

((Turn left here, I think)) Esplin said. I stepped around the corner of the spacious corridor, almost colliding with two males and a female. I snap fired, catching the bigger warrior on the right in the gut, dropping him. This tangled up the other warrior, leaving only the female (for the moment). I lunged forward, past her hasty strike. Although her blade was smaller than a male's, I still didn't want to get hit by it. I shot her, and then stunned the struggling warrior on the ground. A claxon began to ring, and I scrambled away. It took us five more minutes to discover the hanger…

((()))

((I can't let you escape)) Sonili said quietly, standing in my way. Behind me, the warriors pounded at the observation window, trying to cut through the hardened material into the hanger itself with their shredders. They had to use a low power setting, or risk cooking us by accident. (I doubt they were concerned about _me_.)

I had seconds.

"Please don't make me hurt you, girl,"

Sonili stepped closer and looked me in the eye, ((You're my friend, Jacob. You won't hurt me))

"I'm your friend, and I _don't want _to hurt you, but Esplin is also my friend, and your Uncle wants to _kill her_."

((If you take that ship, they will destroy it remotely, with you onboard. All of the vessels here have that safeguard built in)) Sonili explained.

((That's it then…)) Esplin said glumly.

"Well at least we tried," I sighed. I killed power to the shredder, and offered the weapon to Sonili, grip-first. Behind me, the window blew out, and I could hear a dozen shredders humming angrily, ready to fire. Only my proximity to Sonili stayed their hand. I glared hard at the Andalites, "Twelve of you, and not a single warrior brave enough to fight an unarmed human? What are you, tailless?" I thought the insult a bit much. It did the trick though, the youngest, dumbest warrior jumped into the landing bay, and I slumped into a fighting stance, watching him warily.

"I'd rather die on my feet, if it's all the same to you," I snarled.

((Don't be a fool)) the warrior told me. I lunged forward, startling him. I swear, you'd think humans were a bunch of tottering invalids, the way Andalites treat me. They always seemed amazed that I don't fall over tying my shoes… or doing a jump kick to their face. He was not waking up anytime soon. I looked at the other warriors, "Who else wants some?" I challenged.

((I'm sorry))

A stun blast hit me between my shoulder blades, and I collapsed. It had certainly taken her long enough.

((Patience)) Esplin said tensely. I was fighting for her life too, after all. I could hear the dainty clop of hooves approaching across the landing bay. They stopped nearby, and something nudged me in the ribs, hard. I didn't respond.

((Find the Security Chief)) someone barked. There was a scramble nearby, which rapidly receded. I could only hear four other creatures breathing nearby. I lunged up off the floor, snatching the shredder from Sonili's startled hand, and stunned two of remaining warriors. The third shot me, and I ducked away from most of it, but the beam took a chunk out of my arm. I stunned him in the face.

"Damn that stings," I hissed, clutching my arm.

((Get away from my daughter, _yeerk_))

I looked up, catching sight of the female I had stunned earlier. She had a shredder this time, and looked fairly pissed off.

"I'm _trying_, damn it!" I snarled, "She keeps following me!"

That was not the answer she wanted apparently. I barely dodged her shot, and my own return fire overloaded the shredder in her hand. She tossed the weapon aside before it exploded.

Sonili grabbed my arm, ((Don't hurt my mother, please))

"Bad arm, bad arm," I gasped, light-headed.

((Oh, sorry))

She let go, and I nodded, "I'll see what I can do."

I squinted at the female Andalite, between me and the door.

"I don't suppose asking politely would convince you to step aside?" I asked, walking towards her slowly. Her stalk eyes surveyed the room warily, while her main eyes stayed glued to mine.

((What do you want?)) she stalled.

"Life, for me and mine," I answered. I reached my objective, and curled my toes under one of the pieces of transparent material, then kicked it up in her face, just as she slashed at _my face_. In the ensuing fracas, I escaped through the blown-out observation window, back into the corridor.

((We're bleeding)) Esplin commented, as we left bloody footprints in the grass.

"One problem at a time," I muttered. Someone blue came around the corner, and I shot them. I ripped a computer panel off one of the walls, "Do your thing. We need an exterior escape route." I said, giving Esplin my eyes and left arm. She hacked into the lower level processes, and brought up a schematic of the facility. She tapped through the details.

((Uh… the facility… it's underwater…)) Esplin said.

"How much water?" I demanded

((Approximately two hundred and eighty-seven meters)) a familiar voice told me coldly. I glanced over at Sonili's Uncle, who was glaring at me from the end of the hallway.

"Go back to sleep," I called, then ignored him,

"Is there anyway to tell if these really are the schematics?" I murmured.

((Not from here))

"Alright, assume the schematics are true, they have to have some sort of emergency evacuation route. Can you find it?"

((Sure, give me fifteen minutes, both arms, and a proper terminal)) Esplin said sarcastically.

"How about fifteen seconds?" I countered.

((You cannot succeed, yeerk)) the Security officer growled.

"Please stop talking. I promised your daughter I wouldn't hurt you, but stunning you again doesn't count," I snarled.

((Jacob, I need a real terminal)) Esplin reminded me.

"Fine, I'm on it," I grunted, turning away from the wall. I caught a flash of something whipping towards me, and I raised the Shredder, blocking the strike on its hardened alloy casing, which gave the sneaky andalite bastard quite a nasty shock. I yanked the weapon off his blade before he could finish frying himself, and snatched his own shredder from his twitching fingers.

My own hand was still numb from the force of the blow, so I switched the shredder to my left hand. I felt me ears pop.

"What just happened?" I asked apprehensively.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I watched the human attempt to bypass the lockout on the bulkheads which had descended, to seal off the section of the complex he stood in.

((Computer, initiate countermeasure ninty-seven)) I ordered.

((Andalite life-forms detected in junction thirty-six. Do you wish to proceed?)) the computer asked politely.

((Execute command)) I said bitterly. Verozine gas began to pump into the sealed compartment. It was silent, scentless, and invisible. It was also a fairly deadly nerve-agent. It was lighter than standard atmosphere though so it would take several minutes to reach my downed warriors. I had to hope the human would be incapacitated before they inhaled the biological agent.

I peered intently at the human, who suddenly opened fire on the ceiling. ((He's cutting into the ventilation system!)) I snarled. If he breached it…

((Computer, discontinue countermeasure, begin decontamination sequence!))

The human jumped up, and scrambled into the vent. An alarm sounded, indicating that the ventilation seals between sections had been breached, energy weapon discharges had been detected. I sighed, the metal was thinner in the vents. It hadn't been deemed necessary to reinforce them to the same extent as the bulkheads...

((Alien life form detected in ventilation system)) the computer informed me. This was a nightmare. Our energy weapons were ineffective, he was too fast for tail combat, and he was _outthinking _us and outmaneuvering us.

((Shredder in cascading overload detected, level nine, section J)) the computer reported.

((Explosion detected)) I felt the deck tremble beneath my hooves.

((Computer, location of alien life form?)) I demanded.

((Alien life form is in ventilation shaft nineteen, section E))

((Estimate life form's current heading)) I queried.

((Life form is stationary))

I dispatched a security team to the life form's location, fully expecting a trap. Every ten seconds I clarified that the life form still hadn't moved.

Five minutes later, Cheegan raised me on his communicator,

((Sir, the human… he's crumpled at the bottom of the shaft))

((Can you get a scanner on him?)) I asked.

My brother's wife stalked into the security station at that moment, Solini in tow. Helaine had murder in her eyes.

((Routing telemetry to your console)) Cheegan reported. I called up the streamed data, to avoid the wrath of my brother's wife, for a few moments, at least. She stood at my shoulder, trembling with suppressed anger… but she did glance at the scanner readings.

((It's the Verozine. He must have inhaled some climbing into the ventilation shaft)) Helaine determined.

((What should we do, sir?)) Cheegan asked.

((The _least_ you can do is let me study him, _Security Officer_)) Helaine hissed at me in private thought-speak.

((Recover the human, take him to laboratory seven. Dr. Helaine will meet you there))

I left Cheegan in charge of distracting Solini while I oversaw Helaine's activities. Strapped to the examination table the human seemed… smaller… some how. Green veins around his face and neck clearly marked his Verozine exposure, but he was still breathing.

((This is remarkable engineering. Look, do you see how the immune system has been retasked, to selectively target the Verozine? Crude, but brilliant in its simplicity))

Good. She was distracted. ((Does it _only_ attack Verozine?)) I asked.

((Don't be ridiculous, of course not. Somehow, the Verozine triggered this immune response, possibly from a cached template, but maybe… by causing damage, the body was alerted…)) Dr. Helaine's train of thought wandered as she tried to pin down exactly how the yeerks had done what they had, yet every string she unraveled became just another tangle in the confusing web.

((My daughter is _heartbroken_, Lywerav. Do you know this alien has paid more attention to our daughter than _you_ have over the past few days? He's like some sort of hairless pet to her now))

I thought this somewhat hypocritical, since I spent more time with Sonili than her own mother.

"It's not too hard. You just have to care," the human croaked painfully.

((Exactly!)) Helaine growled, glaring at _me_.

((Doctor, can we remain objective here? There is a yeerk agent—))

"Alleged," the human interjected.

((— on your exam table, who's injured half a dozen of our best warriors—))

"You're missing some fur under your chin, did you know? It's hardly noticeable, but from this angle…" the human coughed.

((Be silent, or I will kill you)) I snapped, then glared at my brother's wife, ((Now, I—))

Something snapped behind me, and Helaine shouted, but something grabbed my head, and I was staring at a rather sharp piece of metal, inches from my eyes.

"Listen carefully, bastard. I'm between a rock and a hard place here, and you aren't making things any easier. I'm not your enemy, but you're doing your damndest trying to be mine. The only reason you're not dead, is because your little girl made me _promise_. How about we make a deal of our own. Are you listening?" the human growled in my ear.

((You have my undivided attention)) I said carefully.

"Good. You stop trying to kill my _friend_, who happens to be a yeerk, and stop trying to kill me… then I will cooperate. I'll be the perfect model prisoner, and I won't make you look like some chicken running around with his head shoved up its ass."

((I promise)) I gritted out.

"I want you to _swear _it," the human continued quietly.

((Fine, I swear that I will abide by your terms!)) I snarled.

"And you. You're his wife, right?"

((The last time I checked that was _not_ the case)) my brother's wife answered coolly. Despite my offer to take my slain brother's place.

"Will you _please_ hold him to his word?" the human asked politely.

((I gave you my word!)) I protested angrily.

"Shut up, chicken-shit. You lost all respect when you tried to kill me with _gas_. And some of your men were in that hallway!"

((I will ensure my husband's brother keeps his word, human))

The vise around my head vanished, and I stumbled away. A fairly long blade of metal, or something similar, was held loosely in the controller's hand.

((I trust you will not be using that weapon on us?)) Helaine remarked.

"Why, I seem to have misplaced my shank…" the human said in mock surprise, letting the bit of metal fall to the deck, "And now, after all that excitement and _gas_" he cracked one eye to glare at me, "I need to take a quick nap."

I left quickly, lest I break my word, and went to check on my warriors. I was not a fool however. Three heavily armed warriors remained in the lab.

((()))

((We were fortunate, sir. The most serious injuries it seems were accidentally self-inflicted)) the medic said quietly. She gestured with one of her stalk-eyes to the medical table, which held the _aristh_, Torfan. I had reviewed the security footage already. The cadet had initiative, and courage, but a very poor sense of timing. I had been forced, by the evidence at hand, to come to a single conclusion: for whatever reason, the yeerk was not permitted to inflict casualties, only injuries upon us.

I trotted over to the next bed, which held a second _aristh_. Yaigeir had a very large, mottled lump on his face, from where the human had hit him with his foot. I had examined the footage several times, but the acrobatic feat had not been a fluke. Although tail-less, and having only two legs to balance upon, the human possessed excellent balance and spatial awareness. In some ways, he was actually more versatile than Hork-bajir. The young warrior still hadn't properly recovered from the embarrassment. The human had felled him with a single, surprise attack, in front of his superiors. He was probably the laughing stock of the barracks by now.

**Jacob Nyles:**

I woke up from my nap, and actually… felt pretty good. I stretched, as much as the restraints would allow, and stared at the ceiling.

((Good morning)) Esplin said, distracted. She was listening intently, trying to glean information.

((How goes the espionage?)) I asked idly.

((Inconclusive)) Esplin replied.

I grunted, and looked around. The guards had rotated out, leaving three new faces glaring at me.

The door chimed, and one of the guards checked the visitor. After a silent conversation to his boss, the guard let my visitor in.

((Hello, mother)) Sonili said cheerfully. 'Mother' looked irritated, but after _another_ private conversation, the Andalite girl was allowed to approach.

((Hi Jacob)) she said shyly, uncertain.

((She did shoot us in the back, after all)) Esplin commented wryly, trying to see what the scientist was doing.

((Are we still friends?)) Sonili asked.

I sighed, "Do you have any sevens?" I asked.

Her eyes twinkled, in the way only a species without a mouth can achieve,

((No. Go fish))

"Excuse me, Sonili's mom?" I said.

The scientist looked up from her computer console, trying to tease another genome sequence apart.

((What is it?))

"Two things, no, actually three: First, what's your name?"

((Why do you need to know?)) the woman asked suspiciously.

"Because calling you _Sonili's mom_, _miss scientist, _or _chicken-shit's_ not-wife are all kind of a mouthful," I replied honestly.

Her stalk eyes twisted weirdly, but she didn't seem pissed (well, more than usual)

((My first name is Helaine))

"Okay, Dr. Helaine, my second question; as long as I stay on the scanner table, can I do without the restraints?"

She looked closely between her daughter and me.

((Yes)) she raised a medical isolation field around the scanner table.

((It's weaker than a security grade containment field, but the difference only matters if we have a shredder, or dracon beam)) Esplin observed.

The restraints disengaged, and I sat up painfully. I looked at Sonili, "Which game?"

Her eyes glinted evilly, ((Chess))

I sighed, "Okay… I can't show you anything else in Chess… but Esplin can. Do you want to play against me, or her?"

((Who beat my Uncle?))

I grinned, "Esplin,"

((Then yes, I would like to play against your… friend…))

A pair of game boards appeared, just like before.

((You're assuming I want to play right now)) Esplin said, still intent on Dr. Helaine's work.

((Just humor me, please? You're not getting anything useful from her right now, are you?)) I asked.

((Well…)) the yeerk trailed off in annoyance.

((Listen, play with her daughter, and I'll see if I can convince the doctor to let you in on her work. I know how much you like to play with computer models)) I said lightly.

Esplin bristled until she realized I was teasing.

((Fine)) she growled, ((Left arm, please))

The game began, and the girl looked at us. ((Ah… your left hand again. Is the game I saw you playing earlier really a single person game?))

I laughed, "No, but we were bored, and at the time I didn't have a yeerk in my head, remember?"

((Which color was your friend?))

"Esplin wanted to be blue," I answered.

((Why?))

I shrugged "It's her favorite color."

You'd think I'd dropped a bomb in the room. Everyone's eyes fastened on us, and since everyone else had _four _eyes, that was a lot of eyes.

"Wrong answer?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Slowly, the other aliens went back to what they were doing. I leaned in, "Why did everyone freak out just now?" I asked.

Sonili shrugged, ((It was just so… normal…))

((I'll have her mated in four moves)) Esplin chuckled.

"Pay attention, Sonili. Esplin think's she's about to crush you," I warned.

Alerted, the Andalite realized the trap, and quickly escaped. Esplin growled at me, but she didn't particularly mind drawing the game out.

((Jacob… I have a question…)) Sonili said hesitantly.

"Yes?"

Apparently she lost her nerve, and blurted out, ((Can I bring a friend?))

"Ask your mother," I told her evenly.

The room grew quiet, and the tempo of the game increased.

((This "Checkers" game you played with Esplin. Did you play it before coming here?)) Sonili asked.

"When we could. Months ago, after I escaped, I kind of… crashed… the fighter on a _very_ nasty world. The whole planet was covered in thick mist, and everything that moved tried to eat you… we played a _lot_ of board games there…"

((Antios III?)) one of the guards asked, curious.

"Say again?"

((The world you describe, it sounds like Antios III)) the guard clarified.

"Just a sec, I'll ask,"

((Well?))

Esplin skipped back through my memories, better than any biographer, and once again, we were aboard a crashing bug-fighter, staring at the sensor readings of a distant planet, as asteroids hammered into us. She read the _galard _again, but it made no mention to the planet's name. ((Sorry))

I shook my head, "Esplin doesn't know, and neither do I. There was a very thick asteroid field around the planet though, that's what crippled our fighter," I offered.

The guard approached, and manipulated the holographic controls, temporarily suspending the chess game.

((Here are some of the life-forms found on Antios III)) the guard said, and a creature from our nightmares appeared, life-size, crouched before us. My reaction was instantaneous, and primal.

"YAAAH!" I clenched my fists, and threw an all-out attack at the monster.

Sparks erupted, and I was repulsed from the field, dizzy.

((Did you see that?))

I gasped like a fish until the tingling stopped, and I could breathe again.

"Yeah, I've killed those bastards before," I panted, trembling with adrenaline. The Hell-spider disappeared, and the guard looked troubled.

((How long were you on Antios III?)) the guard asked.

"Seventy-three days," I whispered.

((()))

The next morning, Dr. Helaine had something new for me.

"What… is this?" I asked warily, staring at the bowl of… slime.

((I finished my analysis, and realized that your body has been suffering from long-term nutrient deficiency. I synthesized the optimum ratio to meet your dietary requirements))

"Umm… thank you?" I hazarded.

((()))

"Who's your friend, Solini?" I asked. The smaller girl partially hid behind my friend.

((This is Bellai. She's the only other girl here)) Solini said briskly.  
I strongly suspected Solini had been forced to twist her arm a bit.

"So, Bellai, do you like games?" I asked gently. Solini give her a nudge, and the little girl nodded reluctantly.


	7. Chapter 7: Oversight

**Esplin 1894:**

((How did you stabilize the antigen binding factor?)) Dr. Helaine asked, intrigued.

"I didn't have to," I said, "The body automatically adjusted to the higher antibody counts, over period of several days. Our attempts to artificially adjust the genome for the antigens was one of the initial problems that deadlocked us for so long."

((I have studied some of your race's attempts to modify genetic structures. This is… elegant, by comparison)) Dr. Helaine said. She hated _me,_ but she was a scientist, and could appreciate my _work._

"Bellai, watch her rook," Jacob interrupted, watching the game between the two Andalite children, ignoring my conversation.

((I still can't identify the how the immune system was able to neutralize the Verozine gas, without being destroyed...)) Helaine admitted.

"Double check your scans," I said smugly. She might have missed it, if she went over it with a _fine toothed comb_, but standing back from the results would show the answer.

Verozine gas was deadly. Many of the white blood cells tumbling through Jacob's blood stream _were_ dead… but they had undergone a chemical change as well. Each dead cell had hardened around the absorbed nodule of concentrated Verozine particles… trapped, where they couldn't harm anything else. The poison would eventually be excreted in the urine, but it wouldn't cause further harm during the interim.

The key to the success of Jacob's modifications, was not to _reinvent _the stone wheel… just add titanium spokes, and introduce cross braces to reduce the weight.

((That's a terrible analogy)) Jacob thought, amused by the visual. I saw _his_ interpretation of the visual as well, ((And why, exactly, did you picture it with flaming racing stripes and booster engines?)) I asked pointedly.

((I'm… actually not quite sure)) Jacob admitted, bemused.

((Ah… I see!)) Dr. Helaine said, excited.

"Well, at least one of you is excited," Jacob muttered.

The next month passed in more or less the same monotony. We woke up, Sonili would be waiting patiently, with Bellai in tow. We would play games. Jacob would eat, and I would speak to Dr. Helaine about differing genetic techniques. Then we would sleep. Jacob would often do push ups, hand stands, crunches, and run in place, whenever he could, worried about losing the muscle mass we had gained on Antios III, his antics amusing the girls, and the guards.

Coincidentally, we learned from one of the _Arisths,_ Torfan, that Chess had spread to the barracks, and was a serious contender among their many games involving teams and balls. Apparently, boredom was a serious threat at this outpost. Torfan was the one that had stabbed Jacob's shredder, in the hallway, and nearly been killed by the Verozine gas. Occasionally, he would even play a game or two of chess with me, since Jacob couldn't defeat him. I won as often as I lost.

The entire time though Jacob had a nagging feeling that we had overlooked something. Something important. Since I couldn't see into his subconscious, his primeval brain, I couldn't clarify what his "gut instinct" was trying to tell us.

But it began to worry me as well.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

I watched the monitor as the yeerk played _Uno_ with both my niece, and Bellai.

He was losing.

((Z-space signatures detected))

I glanced up from my report, and at the display. Both of my hearts stopped beating for a moment.

((Warriors, stand to your stations!)) I roared, broadcasting over the entire complex. The stealth systems were still intact, thankfully. My first thought was of the yeerk. Somehow it had signaled… I shoved the seething thoughts away, and focused on the immediate problem. If the yeerks began a grid search pattern, then our exact position was unknown, but if they didn't…

I examined the enemy force's disposition. The enemy fleet was being led by a single Blade Ship, and supported by two destroyers, and a dozen patrol craft. Bugfighters swarmed out of the Bladeship, and headed towards the planet.

**Jacob Nyles:**

((The _fucking _Scrit Na. They love to trade… what if they traded their sensor logs with another ship…)) Esplin groaned.

Just like that, the nagging thought crystallized… after it was too late to help.

I stared at the computer console, which showed the locations of the various Yeerk vessels. "Are they razing the planet?" I demanded angrily. Helaine nodded grimly,

((Indeed. Your compatriots cannot find us, so they intend to flush us from hiding))

"How long before they reach us?" I whispered.

((At their current rate of destruction? It will take them several weeks… but their fighters are the greater threat. Our stealth systems cannot withstand close-range scrutiny, not for so large an area))

"If this entire facility relies on stealth, what's the point of having a half-assed cloaking field?" I demanded.

Helaine glared at me, ((I _assure _you, our stealth systems far outshine any Yeerk sensor or cloak, but you must remember, human, this facility is quite large, and as such, is harder to miss on a close-range scan!))

I stared at the screen helplessly, trapped.

((Perhaps we should give them what they want)) Esplin suggested.

((What do you mean?)) I asked.

((If they _think_ they have found the base, and attack it… standard operating procedure of any Andalite is to draw in as many enemies as possible, if defeat is certain, and then self-destruct))

((I'll tell them it was my idea)) I promised.

((Wait)) Esplin said, ((Tell them it was mine, they'll think it was me anyway, trying to deceive them)) she argued.

((So if I tell them the truth…?)) I asked

((They'll think it was _your_ idea, and you're trying to make _me_ look better)) Esplin explained smugly.

((alrighty then…)) I drawled, and looked at Helaine.

"Umm… Esplin has an idea…" I offered hesitantly.

((()))

Chicken-shit considered the plan, for a very long time, but in the end, he agreed. Two stealthed Andalite fighters circumnavigated the planet, landing in the path of the searching bugfighters. They extended their cloaking field, mimicking that of the installation's. The only problem, was the facility only _had_ two fighters. The only other ship was the medium sized craft that I'd been picked up by… which could hold twenty-six andalites, according to Torfan.

The outpost's complement was one hundred and seven. (plus me, but I doubt they were going to give up a berth for a Yeerk insurgent). Chicken shit was now arguing with Helaine, in private, so we couldn't tell what they were saying. He was no doubt pulling a Titanic, trying to get the women and children to take the life boat.

((It would be efficient, especially if the females were already pregnant)) Esplin said thoughtfully, ((the female survivors would be able to replace the lost males… but the males obviously can't replace the lost females)) Esplin concluded.

I stared at her, ((Thank you for so cynically laying bare one of the most sacred laws of man…))

((What are talking about? Law?)) Esplin asked, unable to follow.

((Women and children, to the boats?)) I answered.

((Oh… I thought you were about to say something else)) Esplin said, actually startled that she hadn't anticipated the direction of my thoughts.

((What did you think I was going to say?)) I asked.

((I'm not sure, something involving cave men, and groping before going out to kill the dinosaur)) Esplin admitted sheepishly.

I thought about it. I decided it might have potential. Esplin shook her head, and decided to return her attention to Chicken-shit and Helaine.

**Esplin 1894:**

They transferred us from the medical bay, to the cell once more, and left us there… alone. Judging by the facility-wide thought-speak updates, the children, and many of the females had already boarded the Andalite ship, and were awaiting the signal to launch. Judging from the brief glimpses of the schematics, the ship had a fair chance of evading detection, and on top of that, it could outrun anything save for the fighter craft.

I told Jacob as much, and his thoughts turned to Sonili and Bellai, which comforted him, a little. More than anything though, Jacob hated being inactive… and unaware.

We didn't know if the yeerks had taken the bait, if the escape ship had launched… nothing. Then an alarm sounded, and a moment later, the outpost shook.

((It would appear the yeerks found us anyway)) I sighed.

"_Damn,"_ Jacob concluded.

Damn indeed.

**Jacob Nyles:**

Another blast rocked the base, perhaps the tenth, or eleventh, and I staggered to the floor. My heart sunk further when I heard Dracon fire _inside_ the base… which meant the shield was down.

((So… it's been fun, Esplin…)) I said quietly.

((Some parts more than others)) Esplin agreed. We both avoided thoughts of Antios III.

We sat in silence for several minutes.

Then the security console sprang to life, across from us.

I stood up, and peered through the containment field, "Sonili?" I asked. Had the escape ship not launched?

The Andalite girl was hunched in front of the recorder, her eyes twitching nervously,

((Jacob, some Yeerks are outside the room I barricaded. They're trying to burn their way in!))

"Can you drop the containment field?" I demanded.

((Yes… this is my uncle's personal console)) the girl admitted. She hid in her uncle's room?

"Do it!" I snapped. The field flickered, and died. I was in the hall a second later.

((Do we have a plan?)) Esplin asked wryly.

((Save the girl, kill everything in the way)) I snarled.

((Oh good. I love simple plans— take a right up ahead))

I barreled around the corner. At the other end, a Hork-bajir looked up startled.

"Look out!" I shouted to him, pointing behind him in terror. For a split second, the Yeerk was confused, and began to spin, raising an arm to ward off a blow, because I was acting like a controller. Then logic destroyed my illusion, and the Yeerk raised his weapon.

I was already too close. I twisted the dracon beam in his hand, and he died, with a look of surprise on his scaly features. I snatched his communicator headset and dracon beam. I stole his equipment belt for the hell of it.

((Why was he alone?)) Esplin mused as I ran.

"Divine… providence…" I gasped, whipping around another corner.

((Take the access conduit down three floors)) Esplin advised. I didn't bother trying to bypass the lock, I burned it off, and yanked the hatch open, blistering my fingers in the process. Esplin didn't complain. Much.

I practically fell down the shaft, jabbing my feet and hands out, three floors down.

((You might not care, but you're hurting us, Jacob)) Esplin complained. I had various scrapes, burns (both friction and thermal), and bruises.

I was fine.

I shot out the lock, and punched the hatch open. Dead hork-bajir and taxxons littered the hallway. Chicken-shit had made them pay dearly for this corridor. I also saw a couple of furry lumps amidst the carnage. One of them was purple.

((Go left)) Esplin instructed. I tried to be careful, but spilt intestines are slicker than snot, as the saying goes.

((Mucous is sticky though…)) Esplin remarked, confused. I busted my ass twice. Casualties had been _extreme_.

((We're close now. Turn right up ahead, then proceed… seven meters))

((You, my friend, are better than a map))

I slid to a halt at the corner, and peeked around carefully. One of the doors had been partially melted, and kicked in. I could hear the voice of a Hork-bajir inside.

Quietly, I crept to the hole, and looked. The inside of the room was a mess. One Taxxon was smeared all over the room, and a second was busy devouring the mess. In the corner, I saw Sonili _and_ _Bellai_. In the center of the room, a single Hork-bajir held a Dracon beam on them while he spoke into his headset, one clawed finger to his ear. For a split second, he looked like the Secret Service from Hell.

((He's talking with his superior, Jacob, he's reporting the children, and… asking for orders)) Esplin translated. I grinned, and shot him in the back. The Hork-bajir stared down at the exit hole in his chest, before collapsing. Unfortunately, he still wasn't dead… until the Taxxon fell on him, teeth flashing, its red compound eyes glinting insanely.

I hated Taxxons. Esplin hated Taxxons. We were in agreement. All Taxxons must die. I shot the worm-bag alien, and it exploded like a caterpillar in a microwave.

((You don't know that. You've never seen a caterpillar bombarded with microwave radiation)) Esplin argued.

((Well, if I _did_, then it would look like that exploding Taxxon)) I retorted.

"Hello, girls, you called?" I chuckled. They stared at me like lost puppies, so I tried to distract them a different way, "I think we should leave. Sonili, where's your uncle?"

((Con-co-control booth)) she stammered, her eyes wide. I slipped the dead Hork-bajir's equipment belt over my chest, opposite to the first belt, and arranged the soft holsters so that they hung down from the belt, turning them into lanyards. I stuffed a pair of Dracon beams from the Taxxons into the holsters, and picked up the dead Hork-bajir's Dracon, so that I had a weapon in either hand.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

((Can we reestablish command functions?)) I demanded.

Helaine looked at me helplessly, ((They cut off this section from the main computer. I can't reroute what's not there!))

"Hello? Chicken-shit? You still alive?" a voice asked. I peered at my communicator incredulously.

((Human? How did you… this is a secure frequency! How did you—?)) I demanded.

"Hey, listen, Chicken-shit, we don't have much time. I have the girls, and they're safe, for the moment, but I'm cut-off from the control booth. I can't get to you."

The girls? But, they were on the transport, it launched…

((We lost the control booth)) I said grimly.

"Oh. Um, just a second, Sonili wants to talk to you—"

((—Uncle?))

((Sonili! Why didn't you stay on the ship!)) I cried.

((We were going to say goodbye to Jacob, we still have six minutes… then the ship launched early, it's not my fault. Then the yeerks got in, and I hid in your office. The yeerks found us, so I used your console to release Jacob. He found us, and killed… killed the yeerks)) my daughter said hastily, her words running together.

((Uncle, what should we do? I'm… I'm afraid))

I _wanted_ to tell my niece to run, to escape. But I am a servant of the People. I could feel my hearts breaking, for there was nowhere _to_ run.

((Sonili, I've lost access to the command functions. Do you understand?)) I said gently.

((Yes)) the voice was tiny, small.

((I need you to somehow set up a link for me to the main computer))

((… I will…))

((Then go, my child. Make me proud. Put the human back on the link))

And she _was_ my child, blood of my brother or not, she was _mine_.

"What do you need?" the human asked grimly.

((If you betray my niece, yeerk, I will not rest until—))

"Listen Chicken-shit, we're wasting time, and I've got yeerks that need some killing. I bet you have the same problem," the human interrupted. The line was terminated from his end.

The yeerks renewed their assault, and I lost two more warriors pushing them back. We were trapped in the corridor, unable to raise the containment bulkhead behind us. I needed command access.

**Esplin 1894:**

((The warpaint is perhaps a bit much)) I stated, catching sight of Jacob's reflection in a broken display screen. He'd taken forty-seven seconds to use a dead Hork-Bajir's red-green blood to mark his bare chest, arms, and face.

((Hey, my ancestors were Celtic)) Jacob protested.

((Only on your father's side. I thought the Celts traced heredity through the mother?))

((Immaterial)) Jacob growled.

I did have to admit he looked rather… barbaric.

A Celtic-gunslinger-Rambo. He was only missing a red bandana.

"So, any idea how we're going to do this?" Jacob asked Sonili. She shrugged helplessly, ((Get to the computer core, see what we can do…))

A wave of Taxons swarmed through an intersection up ahead, obviously headed deeper into the facility. They didn't see us.

((Wait a second, Jacob, ask her which is closer, the computer core, or the command center)) I said, inspiration hitting me.

((Um… command center)) Sonili answered.

Jacob realized my idea, "Sonili, can you bypass your Uncle's security protocols?"

((I… think so…))

"Okay, let's get to the command center, you hack the security, and your Uncle can tell you what he needs done, over the communicator," Jacob hastily suggested.

The girls led us to the command center, and for a moment, I was startled by their trust. If I really had been controlling Jacob, as Sonili's Uncle believed, I could have just crushed any chance of retaliation by the Andalites.

Jacob was too distracted to notice the direction of my thoughts: the command center was occupied.

((Be careful! We need the consoles intact!)) I yelped. Jacob slaughtered the three Hork-bajir troopers in the opening volley. The Taxxons tried to resist, but couldn't help trying to eat their fallen comrades. Jacob mopped them up, and tossed the depleted weapon in his right hand back into the hallway. He jerked a headset off one of the Hork-bajir, and handed it to Sonili, "Hurry!"

He turned to Bellai, "Sweetie, can you gather up the weapons for me?" She nodded numbly, and clopped through the charnel, extracting deadly weapons from still-warm appendages. Jacob took position by the door, keeping an eye on the hallway.

Vaguely, we were aware of Sonili's frantic activities, but mostly, we waited.

We did not wait long.

Enemy reinforcements poured into the far end of the hallway, and Jacob fired from cover, using a two-handed grip for better accuracy, doling out each shot miserly. The corridor was fifty meters long. We were firing from cover, with stable ground, and a steady hand. The enemy was running down a hallway, trying to avoid tripping over dead bodies (which was lethal if the corpse was hork-bajir)… so few shots even passed through the doorway. As Jacob put it, their accuracy _sucked balls_. Slowly, the bodies accumulated, but the yeerks crept closer, like an ocean.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

((Uncle, we're in the command center. I've bypassed your security lock-out))

I jumped, ((What?! Get out of there!))

((Don't worry. Jacob's keeping the yeerks away)) my daughter said, trying to reassure me. I could hear a constant stream of energy discharges in the background.

I ignored the impossible situation, ((I need you to raise bulkhead… H-27, and then close it behind us when I tell you to))

((Raising… bulkhead… now))

The thick blast shield rose quietly behind us, and I gestured frantically for my warriors to fall back. We had to leave the dead.

((Good, close the bulkhead!)) I ordered. Slowly, the blast shield lowered, although an opportunistic shot slipped under the metal, hitting the _aristh _on my left in the gut. The medic tried to stabilize him, but we didn't have any proper supplies…

((_Aristh _Frodlin-Corain-Emur. Hold this position, and delay the enemy)) I ordered heavily. The injured warrior nodded, his eyes clenched in pain. He understood. He was dying, but dying here would buy us time, instead of slowing us down. It was brutal… but this was war.

((I understand, sir))

((Die well, warrior))

I had only a dozen warriors left with me. We galloped down the corridor, and into the drop-shaft. The yeerks would need demolition charges to breach the blast shield, but I had no doubt some were en route. We reached the lowest level of the research facility. My brother's wife disabled the security lockout, and opened the vault to the primary lab. In the center of the room, lay the _escafil_ device… commonly known as a morphing cube. It looked so small, and harmless…

((How long do you need to destroy the device?)) I asked.

Helaine's nimble, beautiful fingers danced across her console, ((It will take the computer five minutes to properly reconfigure the cortex to disintegrate, and another ten to implement))

((Hurry, my love)) I whispered, and paced to the lab's entrance, tail twitching. A muted rumble echoed through the facility. The yeerks had breached the blast shield.

((We must hold the line, my brothers, for the People)) I roared.

((For the People)) they echoed, fury redoubled.

We would make this world _tremble _before we fell.

Suddenly, Andalites erupted out of thin air, filling the hallway.

((Uncle, Esplin suggested making use of the facility's holographic generators. I'm also attempting to use the countermeasures to slow the yeerks down)) Sonili said.

I stared at the hall of fidgeting, imaginary warriors. Brilliant, but it would have been more effective with a larger space.

((How are you making the images move?)) I asked.

((I layered the image over Bellai. She's making random movements, and I'm streaming the motions in a delayed cascade, to every other image, so that they don't move in unison)) Sonili explained proudly.

**Jacob Nyles:**

I threw the empty Dracon beam as hard as I could, bursting a Taxxon, as Bellai handed me a fresh weapon. This was not looking good.

"Sonili, in another seven minutes, we're going to be overrun!" I shouted, a weapon blazing in either hand.

((Closer to five minutes)) Esplin predicted pessimistically.

((Stop sulking, and start thinking!)) I growled at her.

((Why me?)) Esplin demanded.

((Because I'm too busy killing to think!)) I roared back.

She retreated angrily from me, into the back of my head.

((Fine. Go sulk)) I thought snidely.

((I will)) Esplin muttered.

The yeerks pressed closer, and I was running out of weaponry.

((Last two)) Bellai told me, frightened, as she handed me the Dracon beams.

Esplin suddenly spoke, ((Hide))

"A little busy!" I shouted.

((No… it'll take too long to explain. Let me speak)) Esplin said frantically.

((Fine))

"Sonili, this is Esplin," my mouth said.

((Uh… yes?))

"I need you to do something…"

((()))

Suddenly, resistance ceased, and the yeerks poured down the hall, no longer hampered by enemy Dracon fire, and smashed into the control room, weapons ready… but no enemy was to be found. Their return fire had gutted many of the delicate consoles, and a vent cover on the wall had been ripped free. The yeerk in charge, a larger than normal Hork-bajir, snarled in frustration, and snapped orders into his headset.

((He's alerting his comrades that the Andalites have escaped into the ventilation system, no doubt in morph)) Esplin translated.

I fought to keep my breathing shallow, and squeezed the small hands in mine comfortingly. The Hork-bajir turned, and seemed to look me in the eye, unnerving the hell out of me. He didn't see me. Instead, he saw a wall of exposed computer circuitry, damaged by weapons fire, and sparking dangerously. The yeerks maintained a healthy distance from the dangerous _holographic_ wall… which left two feet of space between it and the _actual_ wall… which is where we were hiding.

((You're sure the Taxxons won't smell us?)) I asked again, nervous.

((With all of this blood splattered around? The Taxxons are all but insane with hunger right now)) Esplin sniffed condescendingly. She had a very low opinion of Taxxon usefulness.

((And no one likes getting electrocuted, so they probably won't touch the wall…)) I reminded myself, trying to remain calm.

((Relax Jacob… this will work)) Esplin said confidently.

But I could feel her nervousness.

**Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:**

The yeerks were pressing closer, firing blindly, unable to easily distinguish flesh from hologram… but holograms didn't stop Dracon beams. I felt the impact just below my second heart. For a long moment, I didn't feel anything. Then the agony started. Dracon beams… deliberately designed to kill painfully… not painless, like a shredder…

((Sir!)) Cheegan gasped, and I saw with my left stalk-eye what he had seen:

One of the stray Dracon beams had hit the _escafil _device, knocking it off the assembly podium. Unfortunately, nothing short of a direct shot from a capital ship would damage the cube… but the podium was sparking and on fire. Helaine looked up from her console, and shook her head sadly. The podium couldn't dispose of the morphing cube anymore.

I had failed… with that thought, my legs gave out, and I sank to the grass.

**Helaine-Mtalenon-Ashul:**

No… Lywerav… his eyes dimmed, and it crashed in on me… my husband's brother… for all these years, he had always been there, ever since Reflavac had been killed… his fighter destroyed… Lywerav had always been there for my daughter… like a father. He had asked, twice, to take his brother's place, and twice, I had rebuffed him. I had loved Reflavac… and only him. But Lywerav had loved me… and now, he was dead.

((Sonili… can you initiate a self-destruct sequence?)) I asked weakly.

((Uh… mother… we're hiding behind a holographic wall right now. There are several dozen yeerks in the room with us. Jacob can't talk)) my daughter whispered.

((Are you still in the command center?))

((Yes))

((Stay where you are)) I said coldly. I picked up the _escafil_ device, and tucked it into a satchel. I slung it over my chest, and checked my shredder's energy level.

((Brothers, the People require one last service from us)) I said.

Nine voices answered ((We serve the People))

**Esplin 1894:**

((Any more ideas?)) Jacob asked. A near miss had left a second degree burn across our right cheek, narrowly missing the ear. With nothing to distract us, the pain was starting to become a problem for him. I had been feeling it since it happened.

((Well, we can't just wait here forever. One of the yeerks might realize the pattern of sparks on the wall repeats every thirty seconds, or notice the active program running on the console or…)) I trailed off.

((Well, we could jump out and scream _boo_)) Jacob suggested, ((we'd have about three seconds before they stopped screaming like little girls…))

((Jacob, please be quiet)) I groaned.

((… and then we could shoot them…)) Jacob continued, ignoring me.

((()))

((Human, we are approaching the command center. Move the children into cover))

Dr. Helaine said over the communicator.

What cover? We let go of the girls' hands, and silently pulled the Dracon beams from their holsters.

I heard the sounds of surprised battle, and shredder fire. Blue beams flashed into the command center, dropping yeerks as they scrambled for cover behind blasted consoles. Jacob grinned, "BOO!" he stepped through the hologram, squeezing off shots at the (to us) exposed enemy. Five seconds later, the room was silent once more.

A Hork-bajir stumbled back into the room, clutching the stump of his wrist against his chest. An enraged Andalite shoved his way into the room, his tail blade nearly invisible as he hammered the weakening controller. And when I say _enraged_, and _shoved_, I was not dissembling. The Andalite actually shoved the larger Hork-bajir back with his thin arms… although I suppose it was more of locking his elbows, and shoving with his legs…

Jacob shot the stumbling hork-bajir dead. The Andalite stared at the human, with no immediate foe.

"What's up?" Jacob laughed.

((How did you get blood on you in such a pattern?)) the young warrior asked, confused.

"It's not blood anymore. It's war paint," Jacob explained.

((How… primitive)) Dr. Helaine commented, stepping daintily into the room.

"It's really, fun, you should try it some time," Jacob joked.

Sonili and Bellai stepped out from the holographic wall.

((We must get to the hanger))

Jacob cocked our head, "So we're not going out in a blaze of glory?"

((Circumstances have changed)) Dr. Helaine replied. Jacob shrugged, "Okay… do you want me to clear the way ahead, or slow the enemy behind?"

((Neither. You will stay with us, until I say otherwise)) the Andalite scientist said.

((()))

((Esplin… are you… okay?)) Jacob asked hesitantly.

((Why wouldn't I be?)) I asked, ((aside from the possibility of our imminent deaths?))

((I'm killing your people…)) Jacob said awkwardly.

((Tell me Jacob, if they capture us, what will happen?))

((I'll get dissected, and you'll be… well… in lots of pieces too, probably)) Jacob answered.

((They aren't my people. Not anymore)) I said bitterly, ((I have no people))

((Maybe… but you do have friends)) Jacob said, glancing at Sonili.

I didn't know how to answer that.

((()))

"Okay… I've got eyes on a yeerk gunboat. There're guards at the boarding ramp, but… they don't look _too_ alert" Jacob whispered into his communicator, shifting position in the vent we had shimmed through.

((How many? Disposition? Positions?)) Dr. Helaine demanded.

"Uh… seven… eight… nine. Okay, I can see nine controllers. Two are Hork-bajir, the rest are Taxxon. The Hork-bajir are flanking the ramp, talking to each other, and the Taxxons are in a loose semi-circle, fanning out from the ramp. Only the Taxxons have weapons drawn," Jacob reported.

((Fine. When I signal, I want you to open fire from the vent, draw them out. We attack their flank))

((Let's shoot the Hork-bajir first)) I suggested.

"Good idea…" Jacob said, wheels spinning in his head. He flicked his Dracon beam down to its second lowest power setting.

((What are you doing?)) I asked, curious.

((We need allies… and in three days, we'll have two Hork-bajir, loyal to us, in case the Andalites decide we need locking up again…)) Jacob said.

((That's… actually a good idea)) I admitted, startled. It was… quite devious, for Jacob.

((Plus, they're real close to the ramp, so when we steal the ship, it won't be too hard recovering them)) Jacob pointed out.

((Now human!))

Jacob cursed, and snap-fired, dropping the Hork-bajir on the left. He missed the second warrior, who ducked up the ramp. The Taxxons swarmed towards the vent. Jacob kicked the vent cover off, and jumped out, drawing a sharp piece of metal from our waistband as we rolled. The Taxxons could smell the blood on Jacob, and in their mindless hunger, completely forgot they had weapons. No… they tried to eat us alive.

Jacob did not oblige them. Our "knife" had never been designed to carve through meat, but against Taxxons, it might as well have been a chainsaw, spilling their putrid guts all over the deck. One Taxxon tried to eat its own entrails, even as it died. The Andalites burst into the hanger, dodging fire from the yeerks pursuing them. Jacob rushed for the ramp, and rolled under enemy Dracon fire. One of the shots creased our back, drawing a line of agony.

Jacob yelped, but we were inside the ship now, and right in the Hork-bajir controller's face. Jacob fired, and the alien slumped. Hooves pounded on the ramp, and Jacob shoved the stunned enemy out of the way. The Andalites disappeared into the depths of the cramped cargo bay, heading deeper into the ship. We could hear shredder fire though, and screaming. Dr. Helaine brought up the rear, with the girls in tow.

((Raise the ramp!)) she cried. Behind her, a _lot_ of enemies were pouring into the docking bay.

"In a second!" Jacob scrambled down the ramp, losing his Dracon in the process, and grabbed the stunned Hork-bajir at the base of the ramp. We struggled, pulling the heavy alien completely onto the ramp, so that no parts were hanging off. Someone, no doubt in the cockpit, raised the ramp.

((Jacob!)) Sonili screamed. We jerked around, and saw Dr. Helaine wrestling for a shredder with a seriously pissed-off Hork-bajir. He had green bands, with silver piping, around his biceps. He was injured, but clearly knew what the hell he was doing. Dr. Helaine's tail-blade wildly slashed at the enemy warrior, but it was a kitchen knife, compared to a male's machete. The Hork-bajir elite accepted the gashes in his leather hide, using his superior physical strength to leverage the shredder…

Until Jacob hit him, and hastily kicked Dr. Helaine clear. I thought I heard a few of her ribs break… but we didn't have time for finesse. The shredder was lost somewhere among the crates and cargo cylinders.

Our enemy planted one clawed talon in our belly, kicking us across the cargo-hold, and into a crate.

"Oh…" Jacob groaned, trying to get to his feet, his vision blurry and pain stabbed into me through our senses.

The elite warrior advanced warily on Jacob, and snarled at us in a mish-mash of his host's native tongue, and _galard_. I only caught the _galard_ bits.

"Nice to meet you too," Jacob sneered, and grabbed a small cargo case, flinging it like a discus, to crack painfully against the Hork-bajir's head. _That _startled the enemy, and brought him to a halt. He gnashed out a question, but I couldn't translate it. The intent was clear, and we answered in kind.

Jacob lunged in close to the controller, avoiding a razor edge thrust from his knee, and scored a shallow gash across the inner thigh with our shiv. It was painful, but not deep enough to be a threat. Unfortunately, we didn't see the tail—

((()))

Jacob used a crate to pull himself to his feet, and wiped blood out of his eye.

"You're good," he admitted, limping towards his opponent, "But you're running out of time."

We met in a rapid flurry of blades, punches, and counter-grapples, then raggedly disengaged, still circling each other. Jacob had a new cut across his cheek and a more serious gash in his left shoulder.

The Hork-bajir had two new puncture wounds in his lower abdomen. If he felt them, he gave no sign of it. This was going badly for us. Sensing weakness, the warrior pounced forward, slamming us into a container with his tail, and pinned Jacob to the floor with one foot. Jacob stared up at the enemy, dazed, and the Hork-bajir snarled, bladed arm raised for the killing blow.

((Jacob!))

"Sonili, no!" Jacob gasped. The Hork-bajir warded off the girl's little tail blade with one of his forearms disdainfully. Jacob stabbed our shiv into the Hork-bajir's ankle, sawing savagely, severing the alien's equivalent to the Achilles tendon. The Hork-bajir stumbled, and Jacob latched onto the alien's foot, keeping it pinned to his chest, tripping the alien, who fell on his own tail, which stabbed through his own thigh, eliciting a hoarse scream of agony. The Hork-Bajir dragged itself upright, and there was definitely murder in his eyes. Jacob bared his teeth, but it was an empty gesture. There was something wrong with our head, it was getting harder for Jacob to think, and our senses were dimming, although we did see a burst of blue light before we passed out.


	8. Chapter 8: Monsters

**Helaine-Mtalenon-Ashul:**

I heard my daughter scream, distantly, and swam back to the surface of my mind. "Sonili, no!" echoed through my ears, turning my blood to ice. A hork-bajir roared in pain, before everything went quiet, and I opened my eyes. I saw the human first, then my daughter. She crouched among the blood, trying to rouse the human. His red blood stained her arms to the elbow, turning the fur almost black. Cuts and gashes covered him, each weeping weakly. I saw one of Visser Twelve's personal guards lying dead nearby. ((Medic!)) I yelled.

((Jacob…)) Sonili whispered brokenly, my shredder lying beside her.

Within minutes, my men located the yeerk's primitive medical-bay. I had two broken ribs, but they would heal. The human… was another matter.

Velen shrugged helplessly, staring at the medical scanner, ((I have stopped the bleeding, but that's all I can do. I've never treated a human before))

((Your best is all I can ask)) I answered heavily. The medic nodded grimly.

((()))

"What's up… Doc?" a voice croaked beside me. I looked down at the barbarian, who had exposed his teeth.

((We have two Hork-bajir locked in a storage room. I assume you wish us to… recruit them?)) I asked.

The human chuckled painfully, "Good guess."

((()))

In less than a week, the human was back on his feet… barely. He had to sit down and rest often, but Velen couldn't keep him in the med-bay. The _aristh_s saw him as some kind of totem, or good-luck charm. The two Hork-bajir (both turned out to be female) followed him everywhere he went. Their loyalty almost bordered on worship.

The _escafil_ device never left my side.

**Jacob Nyles:**

"Come out, come out wherever you _are_…" I called, limping through the cargo-hold. Unlike human children, Andalites didn't giggle out loud. Taff and Jett had also hidden, just like the children… but they _did_ giggle. Sort of.

((They're seven feet tall, and covered in blades. I doubt _giggle_ is the proper description)) Esplin said dryly.

((How else would you describe it?)) I asked.

((A deep chuckle, which cannot be heard, but can be felt in the soles of our feet as the deck-plates vibrate)) Esplin promptly answered.

((Alright, smart-ass, you've made your point)) I growled.

I passed by Bellai, and kept walking, pretending I didn't see her... until I spun, "Yah!" I shouted, tagging her shoulder.

((Jacob! You _always _tag me first!)) she complained.

"Not _always_," I mimicked, "Sometimes I tag Taff first."

"Jah-kob no tag Taff first. Taff always last," a harsh voice protested from above.

"Taff quiet, or Jah-kob find Taff _and_ Jett!" a second voice hissed earnestly. I rolled my eyes.

((They'd be cute, almost, if they weren't so sharp…)) Esplin mused.

I pulled a shiny, faceted optical node from my pocket, and it… slipped free as I walked. I turned a corner among the crates and counted to eight, doubling back as quickly as I could. One of the Hork-bajir was crouched on the deck, examining the shiny bauble. I slapped her arm, "Tag!"

The alien warrior honked in surprise, and disappeared into the shadowy crossbeams with a single bound.

"Taff out!"

"Taff not out, Taff here."

"Jah-kob tag Taff!"

"Yes, is true,"

"Taff out!"

"No, Taff _here_."

Of the two, Jett was _generally_ themore clever, or at least, more perceptive one.

I ignored the argument, using the noise they made as cover to creep through the crates. Sonili was the hardest to find, and harder to tag.

After forty-five minutes, I had to admit defeat, and climbed up into the crossbeams, sneaking up on Jett, who was still arguing with Taff. I tagged them both, just to be sure who was who.

((Jett is the smaller one)) Esplin remarked unhelpfully.

((They're both huge)) I pointed out, annoyed.

((Well, Jett is the slightly less than immense one))

"You win, Sonili!" I called out.

((_Finally_))

I heard something moving up above, and dimly perceived that a cargo lid had been laid across two crossbeams.

"How did you get up _there_?" I demanded, stunned.

((Jett and Taff helped me)) the girl answered smugly.

"Well, have them get you down before your mother sees!"

((Fine…)) Sonili grumbled, but she was on the deck a minute later. Neither one of us wanted to piss off Dr. Helaine.

The ship trembled as we dropped out of Z-space. A few seconds later, something fired on us. Unsecured cargo rolled around the bay, threatening to crush anything in their way.

"Out!" I yelled. The Andalites beat us to the hatch, and I pushed them through, Jett and Taff hard on _my_ heels. Considering they had blades on their knees, I was highly motivated to get the hell out of their way.

((()))

"What's going on?" I asked.

((We emerged from Z-space into the middle of a battle)) Dr. Helaine said calmly, manning the sensor station.

"Who's winning?"

((Our side… but we are flying a yeerk craft)) one of the other Andalites said grimly.

"Don't you have a secret hand-shake or something?"

((No))

((Jacob, please shut up and let the _nice_ Andalites keep the _mean_ Andalites from killing us)) Esplin cajoled tensely.

((Well, when you put it _that_ way…))

I clung to a convenient handrail, and watched… and waited… Did I mention I hate waiting?

The entire battle ended in ten minutes, and some very harsh words were exchanged between our ship and several _much larger_ Andalite vessels. We were ordered to power down, and prepare to be boarded, etc. A vessel of similar size docked with us, and a dozen _very_ jumpy warriors came onboard, shredders in hand. Once they realized there really _were_ Andalites onboard, and we probably _had _stolen the ship to escape, they relaxed… about a hair… because we might actually have yeerks in our heads, and apparently, the yeerks had managed to body-snatch one of their warriors, who was currently raising both Hell and Cain for them in this sector.

The Andalite in charge of the boarding party had two bandoleers, loaded with spare power cells for his Shredders, and he was missing his left stalk-eye… and a few fingers. Scars covered his flanks and chest. I instantly _knew_ I did not want to make this guy mad at me.

((He does look… formidable)) Esplin admitted uneasily.

The scarred warrior's gaze fell on Esplin and me… and the two Hork-bajir behind us.

((And what of those three?)) he barked.

((Prince Evaan… it is… complicated)) Dr. Helaine said reluctantly.

_Evaan_'s main eyes narrowed dangerously, ((Do not _waste_ my time. Are they controllers, or not?))

"The Hork-bajir are free, Prince Evaan, but I am technically a controller," I said levelly.

((What are you doing?)) Esplin hissed.

((He's a predator. If we show fear, or lie, we're dead)) I shot back.

The big warrior shifted slightly, and his tail-blade… well, one second it was cocked behind his shoulder, then while I was blinking, it just _appeared_ against my throat.

Dr. Helaine shifted uncomfortably, ((Forgive me, my prince, but the human's situation is complicated, as I said))

I smiled tightly, "Technically, I'm a defector."

Now _that_ he understood.

((Yeerks seek to subjugate, to enslave, nothing more, and nothing less)) the prince growled.

"Well, not _every_ yeerk _seeks_ that… but they are scared shit-less of what the Council, or the Vissers will do to them if they say no," I answered easily.

((Careful…)) Esplin warned, ((I don't think he's quite… stable))

I had to agree.

A small hand slipped into mine.

((Please, don't hurt my friend)) Sonili pleaded, and Prince Evaan looked down, startled.

((This controller… is your friend, little one?)) he asked, puzzled.

((My prince, as strange as it may sound, I believe the yeerk. Without his assistance, the enemy would have successfully seized an _escafil_ device at Ionithu II)) Dr. Helaine said grimly,

((In addition, he has demonstrated unconditional loyalty to my daughter… if not to me)) Dr. Helaine said wryly.

((You follow a _child_, yeerk?)) the Prince asked derisively.

I shrugged, "She asks nicely. No one else does."

The Prince laughed, a sound that made everyone flinch in their heads.

((I like this one!)) The blade left my throat.

((Quarantine the crew for three days aboard the DawnStorm. Bring the yeerk to the SwiftBlade)) the Prince barked, and his men jumped into action… like veterans.

((I don't like that he's separating us…)) Esplin said nervously.

((Don't worry, princess, I'll protect you)) I said blithely, shooting a picture of a knight in shining armor astride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle at her.

That earned a bark of laughter from Esplin.

((()))

Prince Evaan took me to the SwiftBlade, which turned out to be an Andalite Domeship (equivalent to a battleship) but this was not his ship. It was _War-Prince _Bheleran's _flagship_.

((So… he's like a five star general and Fleet-admiral, all rolled into one?)) I clarified.

((More or less…)) Esplin confirmed. She was (figuratively) rocking in a corner and chewing her lip off in anxiety.

((If you had more sense, you'd be doing the same!)) Esplin retorted.

((Then it's a good thing that I'm made of sterner, dumber stuff than you)) I grumbled.

((If the relationship between sterner and dumber are directly proportional, then _technically _you should be indestructible)) Esplin sniped.

((Ooh… touché)) I conceded.

((Do we have a plan?)) Esplin asked.

((The plan remains unchanged, my dear Esplin)) I drawled laconically.

((You know how much that accent annoys me)) the yeerk complained.

((True… but the plan hasn't changed. We're going _Home_)) I said quietly.

By any means…

**Esplin 1894:**

I was surprised when the prince led us directly to the War-prince's quarters. Two muscular, heavily battle-seasoned warriors stood guard outside.

((Think this is the place?)) Jacob asked snidely.

Prince Evaan hustled us past the guards. The room seemed huge after the cramped corridor. In the center of the room, a holographic projection of the sector hung, complete with planets and stars. Andalite ships in blue hung in position, with Yeerk ships in red flickering at the edge of sensor range. I was actually surprised by the War-prince.

He was quite slender, for an Andalite. Dye his hair purple, and he might pass for a female, but the huge Prince Evaan evidently _worshipped _Bheleran.

((War-prince, I have brought a prisoner, from the ship that surrendered))

((Just starve it Evaan. Why are you bringing this to me?)) Bheleran asked, distracted.

"Because I am no ordinary yeerk, War-prince." Jacob said

That drew the War-prince's gaze, and I saw a calculating intelligence in them that struck a chord in me. This was no war-hero. He was a monster. The ends justified any means, all that mattered was the result. This creature would vaporize a defenseless planet without hesitation if it would end the war.

Or at least, that was my first _impression_.

((Do tell))

((Alright Esplin, it's your show now. Sell it)) Jacob said, and he relaxed.

_Completely_. _I_ stood before a War-prince, _I_ cleared _my_ throat, and _I _blinked. Jacob squeezed my shoulder figuratively, letting me know he was ready.

"Until my defection five months ago, I was the leading xeno-geneticist in the Yeerk Empire. My designation is Esplin 1894, and I was tasked with the modification and creation of weapons that would ultimately sweep us to victory. But… the price was too high. In the Yeerk empire, one cannot _step-down_, or retire. There are three choices; continue your work, execution, or desertion. I stole the only prototype."

((An interesting speech, parasite, but I see no proof. You have no data files, and no _weapons_)) Bheleran sneered.

"Tell me, War-prince. Have you heard of the humans?" I asked conversationally.

((Vaguely, they're a primitive species, from some insignificant world)) the War-prince said, waving a hand in dismissal.

"You are winning this war, because the only hosts the Yeerks have in sufficient quantity are _Taxxons_. What if I told you that I had a way to turn a weak, but numerous and _vulnerable _race of intelligent creatures into shock troopers almost as lethal as a Hork-bajir? Somewhere in the number of five _billion_?" I paused for dramatic effect,

"We would have destroyed you with the Hork-bajir, who only numbered in the tens of thousands, if not for your Quantum Virus… but these humans are different. Their genotypes are diverse and highly varied. A Quantum Virus might affect… perhaps a third of them, and they would _still_ number in the billions."

The War-prince's eyes were riveted to mine, and something hard and cold swam within those emerald depths.

((What is it you want, yeerk?))

((Yes Jacob, what do we want?)) I asked, already knowing his answer.

"To fight. The humans would fight, and die to the last _man_, to be free, if they _knew_. They are unaware of their peril, War-prince. The Yeerks have infiltrated their world, and quietly seize hundreds every day, undetected."

((Why would a _yeerk_ seek to warn these… humans?)) Bheleron asked sharply.

"Because I want something _more_. My host has shown me things… things I never thought to dream of before. I want to _know_ what home means. I want… so much..." I trailed off, unable to speak. I tried to swallow, but emotion was choking me.

"When I die, I want friends, others who will _mourn_ my passing, I want someone to care that I existed."

The War-prince looked at me thoughtfully, ((Intriguing))

Then Evaan shot me in the back.

**Helaine-Mtalenon-Ashul**

((But, mother, what if they hurt him?)) Sonili asked, worried.

((I'm certain the War-prince will do what is right)) I said reassuringly.

Her eyes remained haunted, and I felt a pang of sorrow: when had the eyes of my little girl grown so old? Not long ago, it seemed, she had been carefree, her greatest concern and trouble was how to amuse herself with so few fellow children.

((You knew him for weeks, and you still do not understand Jacob)) Sonili murmured, ((How will the War-prince understand?))

How indeed.

**Jacob Nyles:**

I stopped screaming after my voice gave out. Then there was just this weird, crackly noise. I hung from the restraints, until Evaan grabbed my hair, and yanked my head back. I tried to spit at him but… well, I hadn't been given water for at least a day.

((Someone will come for us)) I told Esplin forcefully, but she didn't respond. She had no happy place to retreat to, so she was trying to distance herself from my mind. I didn't blame her.

The prince had been told to _entertain _me, by the War-prince, until he could find a minute to spare for me. Prince Evaan was many things, (bastard among them), but he was no sadist. He took no pleasure from my pain, but neither did it cause him discomfort. I was the enemy, who had destroyed entire races. _I_ was the monster. Esplin 469 had been a sadist. I could tell the difference.

Still… I was going to murder Evaan… but not before I shoved Bheleran's testicles down his throat.

((Andalites don't have mouths)) Esplin pointed out, her thoughts distant and quiet.

((Not a problem. I'll _carve_ him a smile, right across his goddamn throat))

Esplin approved.

**Sonili-Esth-Fastil:**

Have you ever had a friend that you knew would trade their life for yours, without hesitation? Not because your life was more important, or better than theirs… but simply because you were their friend?

Jacob was such a friend… Esplin liked me, I think, but I don't think a Yeerk really knows what sacrifice is… It's been three days since we found the fleet.

No word from Jacob, no _mention _of Jacob either. Mother is worried, but she tries to hide it from me, trying to distract us. Taff and Jett are worried too… but they always worry when Jacob is not near. As Jett described it to me, the nightmare stopped when Jacob was near. When Jacob is not near, the nightmare might come back… and Jacob knows what to do when there is trouble, and tells Jett and Taff the right thing to do.

Although we were released from quarantine, no one will tell us anything, and I can feel the warriors watching us. There is something I can do however. I have been thinking, very hard, about how to help Jacob.

The DawnStorm is a very large ship. It once carried thousands of colonists between the stars… now most of its decks have been retrofitted to carry fighter-craft. _A lot_ of fighters…

I hacked into the DawnStorm's computer mainframe a few hours ago. Important systems like weapons, shields, propulsion, and life support have multiple layers of encryption that I can't break without setting off alarms, but non-essential systems are barely protected. Shuttles from the supply ships move between the combat vessels of the fleet, transferring personnel and supplies where they are needed. I checked the manifests, and a shuttle from the HomeMeadow is scheduled to dock with DawnStorm at 16:00, with a shipment of repair components for the damaged fighter-craft onboard, before continuing on to the SwiftBlade, to offload the rest of the supplies.

I intended to be on that shuttle… but a young Andalite female would draw attention.

((()))

I snuck into the cargo bay, and hunted through the maze of containers. It took me an hour to find everything I needed, and twenty minutes to assemble the device and attach it to a harness. It was 15:45.

((()))

((Listen, _aristh_, I don't see you anywhere on the manifest)) the shuttle pilot grumbled.

I sighed and glared at the ground, ((I know, sir, but this is the third time my transfer orders have been lost, forgotten, or misdirected. My replacement is already here though, and I've been waiting in the hanger for two days now. Please, can you just drop me off at the SwiftBlade, and let their quartermaster deal with me?))

I did not come up with this tale on my own. During my Uncle's first tour as an _aristh_ aboard the FarCry, his transfer was somehow lost, but his quarters had already been given to his replacement. He was forced to camp in the hanger bay for a week until the mix-up was sorted out, and a shuttle dispatched to pick him up.

Apparently, my story was nothing new to the shuttle pilot.

((Alright, fine, _aristh_, no fur off my haunches)) the pilot shrugged. I thanked him profusely, and climbed aboard the shuttle, careful to keep my taller holographic eye-stalks from passing through the low ceiling. I then stayed out of the way, so that the pilot wouldn't accidentally brush against me and feel nothing but air.

The shuttle was essentially two compartments: the tiny cockpit, and the cargo bay, which was nearly twenty meters long, and eight meters wide. Three-fourths of the crates had remained behind on the DawnStorm, so space was not an issue. The cargo ramp took up the entire back wall, and folded down, almost like a human mouth. I had a carry-bag thrown across my shoulder, but it was just a hologram.

((()))

The shuttle touched down with a heavy thud, (any good pilot could have landed the ship with barely a tremor… speaking volumes as to why the pilot had been posted to fly a _shuttle_, especially given the recent shortage in fighter pilots)

The shuttle pilot dropped the cargo ramp, and I called out my thanks again as I quickly trotted down the ramp. The hanger bay was full of bustling activity, technicians and support crews hastily attempting to repair damaged fighters. I moved with a purpose, and no one stopped me. I was just another faceless _aristh_ replacement, a nobody.

I found a secluded supply room, and the holographic duffel disappeared. I quickly broke the SwiftBlade's lower level security. I found the ship's hall logs, and indexed the material, roughly approximate to when Jacob probably would have arrived. It took fifteen minutes to spot him, as he was marched through the ship. He entered what must be the War-Prince's quarters, judging by the two guards outside. I accelerated the playback ten fold, and seconds later, Jacob was dragged back out, by Prince Evaan. He looked dead, and my hearts beat erratically for a moment. _He's just stunned. He has to be. _I told myself sternly, and followed Evaan through the halls, stopping at a non-descript storage locker. I sped up the playback, but although Evaan came and went over the next eighty-hours of footage, Jacob never emerged. _Found you_.

((()))

Storage Locker Alpha-2-19 was located two decks above the flight hanger, but below the crew-deck. I had three close-calls, where harried _arisths_ almost collided with me, but quick eyes and quicker feet saved me from discovery. I turned the corner and saw my goal, fifteen meters away. I also saw a _giant_ coming down the corridor towards me. _Evaan!_ If he saw me, Evaan gave no indication; he simply entered the storage locker, and closed the hatch behind him. I hurried forward, and knocked timidly on the hatch. After a moment, the hatch burst open, nearly clipping my holographic face. I scrambled backwards.

((What _aristh_?!)) Prince Evaan demanded.

((P-p-prince Evaan, War-prince Bheleran sent me to tell you he requires your presence, immediately)) I stammered.

((Hmph. Very well)) Evaan walked off muttering darkly about sending idiots as messengers when one could use the ship's intercom just as easily.

When he disappeared from sight, I quietly slipped through the hatch, and secured it in the dark.

((Lights)) I called. The artificial lighting activated, revealing what a storage locker was supposed to look like, I guess. There were shelves with crates and boxes on them, crammed so tightly that one had no space to turn around, and would have to back all the way out to turn.

((Jacob?)) I called, tentatively. In the utter stillness, I heard a broken, ugly whisper of sound. Cautiously, I ventured deeper into the storage locker. I found Jacob in the back. Someone had tied his arms to opposite shelves, and his head hung low. Cables secured his ankles together, and were fastened to another shelf at ankle level. Blood had dried in spatters and drops on the floor around Jacob.

((Jacob?)) I asked, trying to keep the fear from it… but failing. He moved weakly, but did not raise his head.

My tail blade cut the ties on his arms, and he flopped to the deck limply, his head hitting sickeningly. I cut the ties from his ankles.

((Jacob, we have to go, you _must_ stand!)) I cried.

I… believed in Jacob. I had never seen him like this. Someone had… hurt him, over and over again. He'd been… tortured.

((Why would Bheleran send an _aristh_, I wondered)) a voice growled behind me. I spun a stalk-eye, to look behind me as I should have done, tail raised. Evaan stood in the hatch.

((And I realized, he _would not_. I do not recognize you, boy. I think you are one of the _arisths _from the Yeerk ship. You are a traitor)) Evaan said with grim anticipation, stalking me. He had no hand weapons, but he was a _Prince_.

My larger opponent squeezed between the shelves. I had a very slim chance. I was facing away from Evaan, but he was facing me. He could not turn side-on as he normally would, so his tail would have to travel over his shoulder, to strike at me. I had no such problem… and I wasn't as tall as my hologram.

I backed up, towards Evaan, tail cocked. The big warrior realized his disadvantage and scowled, but he refused to retreat back into the open. He was arrogant.

He issued no challenge, he simply struck. I never even saw the strike coming, but it would have cut off my eye-stalks in one slash… if I wasn't a hologram. Evaan blinked, for just a second, and I attacked. I knew where to strike. I had seen where the Hork-bajir had slashed, and one of my Uncle's men had died in seconds. I think his name was Eourlund.

My little tail-blade, no great threat _normally_… swiped across Evaan's throat, hitting bother arteries and his trachea. I noted all of this in a detached sort of way. Evaan stared at me, and I turned off my hologram.

((A girl?)) he whispered in horror. Like a great tree, his knees buckled, but he kept his body upright… until he slumped, his eyes closing as blood spurted from my cut. It took a long time to stop bleeding.

I killed a Prince.

A hero of the People.

A… bad man.

I looked down at Jacob, broken on the floor. I could not carry him. My plan was useless now.

((()))

The shuttle pilot was surprised to see me, again.

((What's wrong now?)) he asked, a mixture of pity and disbelief in his voice.

I kicked at the deck angrily, as any _aristh_ might.

((My quartermaster sent the wrong _aristh_, and now, _this_ quartermaster is using _me_ as a messenger)) I spat, glaring at my hooves. Beside me, a two meter long crate rested on a hover pad. I held the control unit in my hand.

((What's in the crate?)) the shuttle pilot asked, curious.

((I don't know, the quartermaster of the SwiftSword said that the DawnStorm's quartermaster would _understand_)) I grumbled.

((Well… you know what? It's a little out of my way, but I can drop you off on the DawnStorm. If you're quick, it won't put me back more than ten minutes)) the pilot offered.

I slumped in relief, some of my tension evaporating, ((At least _one_ thing will have gone right)) I sighed.

((Just hurry and get promoted. You'll take less abuse from the quartermasters)) the pilot advised.

((I'm trying, _believe_ me)) I said earnestly.

((()))

I stepped off onto the DawnStorm, and waved goodbye to the shuttle pilot. I guided the crate through the carrier's hanger bays, and looked for my mother.

((()))

((Mother)) I said breathlessly, and she turned, looking at me strangely.

((I believe you are mistaken, _aristh_))

((Oh, sorry)) I deactivated the hologram.

((Sonili, where did you get that device?!)) mother hissed.

((I made it, but I have a problem)) I said desperately.

((What?)) she asked, alarm beginning to creep into her voice.

I opened the crate beside me, and mother flinched.

((The human, what did he?—))

((— there's no time mother. I found Jacob, on the SwiftBlade. They tortured him)) I interrupted.

((No, I'm sure that's not what—))

((Prince Evaan walked in as I was cutting Jacob loose. He tried to _kill_ me)) I sobbed.

My mother grabbed me and held me close. I was too old for it, but I didn't care, I needed it.

((Shh… it's going to be all right. We can fix this…))

((No, its not!)) I choked, ((Prince Evaan is dead))

Her eyes went to Jacob, ((The human…?))

((No, mother. Jacob can't even speak. It was me. _I_ killed him. I killed a Prince))

My mother shrank away from me, dread in her eyes.

((What do I do?)) I asked, lost. Mother always knew what to do.

Her eyes hardened, and the air seemed to crystallize.

((First, turn that hologram back on. Second, go find those Hork-bajir, and bring them here))

((()))

Two of the _arisths_, Torfan and Yaigeir stepped into the room, and my mother spoke intently with them, her eyes like burning coals. Earth. She was taking us to Earth, with Jacob. Well, everyone but the _aristh's_. She was _asking_ themto become forsworn, traitors of the People.

I stood by Jett and Taff, while their clawed fingers gently wiped away Jacob's blood with damp cloth, and carefully let him sip water from a rag. They said nothing… there was nothing _to_ say.

I had betrayed my people.

((()))

Someone said my name for the third time, and I looked up at my mother. ((Sonili… Torfan has agreed to come with us… but Yaigeir cannot)) my mother said.

((Now, I must go)) mother said briskly, before leaving me alone with three aliens and the _arisths_.

Yaigeir hung his head in shame, and could not meet my eyes. I understood. He was the only son in a minor family. If he was shamed, his mother, father, and two sisters would be disgraced as well, exiled… if they were lucky. If they remained, no one would speak to them ever, or even acknowledge them. They would cease to exist. Torfan's father had died in a battle last year, a decorated captain and war-hero. His mother had not survived giving birth to him, and he had no other siblings. He had no family left to ruin.

Everything seemed to move so fast… it passed in a blur of activity and fear. Then we were walking through the corridors. I didn't know where. The Hork-bajir carried the crate that held Jacob between them. I don't know where the hover pad was. Yaigeir was gone. He could not afford to be seen with us.

It wasn't until we entered the hanger, and I saw the Yeerk ship that I realized where we were headed. Mother was already onboard, and had several satchels and pouches. I didn't ask. Calmly, we boarded the ship. Torfan flew the ship. I wondered why the DawnStorm's shields did not rise, to prevent our escape. Later, mother told me she had sabotaged the shields, weapons, and communications systems. We were pursued, but the other ships were caught unprepared, and we escaped into Z-space safely.

Then I cried until I fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9: Planetfall

**Esplin 1894:**

I was surprised when Jacob woke up, and he didn't hurt. I'd withdrawn most of my connections to Jacob, to avoid the pain. I felt… guilty for that. I did not understand why. I could not have eased Jacob's burden by sharing the pain between us… and he had more resilience to such things than I did anyway. There was no advantage in both of us suffering. It made sense, and was a logical argument… but I still felt guilty. It was a most annoying, and persistent emotion. Jacob could smell Hork-bajir nearby, so I made the conclusion that Jett and Taff had somehow either spirited us away… or were being imprisoned with us. Ten minutes later, Jacob _finished_ waking up, and actually opened his eyes. It took a minute for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they did, I realized where we were, and relief washed through us.

((Back from your vacation?)) Jacob asked blearily, trying to sort through his catalogue of aches and minor pains.

((Vacation? More like intense sensory deprivation)) I snapped defensively.

((Whatever. Let's see if I can speak))

"H-hello?" Jacob whispered hoarsely. A Hork-bajir uncoiled from the darkness, and leaned over us. The motion reminded Jacob of a horror movie he'd seen, involving strange black aliens with acid blood.

"What Jah-kob need?" she asked. She had been sleeping in that curious sitting-up position their anatomy required. (They crouch down, with their tail serving as a tri-pod, their head tucked to their chest, and arms wrapped around their knees… which means they look like a prickly-sphere).

I recognized Jett by the small puckered scar above her horny beak.

"Water," Jacob answered.

The seven foot-tall alien warrior gave Jacob a wet rag to suck on. She dripped water from a canteen onto the exposed part of the cloth, trickling water into us.

Jacob tried to sit up, but Jett kept us down with gentle pressure from one enormous arm, "Jah-kob sleep. Need sleep," she said crossly, like one spoke to an unruly child.

((Esplin agree. Jah-kob need sleep lots)) I mimicked.

Jacob choked on the rag, and had a coughing fit.

((You made me choke)) Jacob grumbled.

((Esplin not sorry. Jah-kob need use small brain, think, difficult. Drink or laugh. Jah-kob not do both)) I continued without missing a beat.

Jacob smiled in the dark.

((Fine. You win)) Jacob mumbled, and I slid with him back down into the dark places, where there was no pain, only oblivion.

((()))

We woke up again, and Jacob was able to drink from the canteen directly, in small sips. Taff helped hold Jacob somewhat upright. Dr. Helaine came then.

((Do you wish to know the extent of your injuries?)) she inquired politely.

"Fine, lay it out for me," Jacob whispered.

((Although there were no actual fractures, you had multiple stress points where your skeletal system had been weakened from repeated blunt trauma. In addition, you had widespread but minimal internal bleeding. There was damage to both kidneys, and the lower lobe of your liver. I need not go in depth as to the multitude of deep muscle bruises. You are also no doubt aware of the many bruises and lacerations to your skin))

"I'm going to disembowel Evaan, and then Bheleran," Jacob groaned.

Dr. Helaine shifted uncomfortably. "I know they're _heroes_, doctor, but I just need you to look the other way while I turn them into blue furry coats, boots, and _mittens_," Jacob growled.

((Killing Evaan might be difficult for you… since my daughter was forced to do so during her rescue of you)) Dr. Helaine replied frostily.

"Oh… oh my God. How is she?" Jacob asked, ashen.

((… as well as can be expected)) she replied quietly.

((We need to be brought up to speed)) I pointed out to Jacob.

"I've slept long enough," he said, "I need to take stock now."

((()))

Walking _hurt_. Agony did not quite do the sensation justice. Excruciating might be a better description.

((Oh man up, Esplin. We've had worse)) Jacob teased, but I knew he was trying to distract me, which _doesn't work_. I wasn't human. His pain was my pain. He could distract himself, but I either had to disconnect, or experience it. No matter how many times I explained this to him…

((I mean, think about it, we don't even have any stab wounds this time, just mega-bruises))

((Yes. That makes it _all_ better)) I retorted sarcastically.

We hobbled around the cargo bay like masochists, with a bladed nightmare shadowing us in a credible imitation of a protective mother bird. We didn't fall… well, almost falling doesn't count.

We traveled to the cockpit next. One of the _arisths_ was standing idly at the pilot station, which would have normally been manned by a Taxxon.

((Ah, you are awake))

"Hey, Torfan, don't crash." Jacob joked.

Torfan flicked his stalk-eyes in a manner I recognized; it was similar to a human chuckle.

Finally, we found the person we were looking for, in the captain's quarters.

"Hey, pip-squeak. Miss me?" Jacob asked.

Sonili looked away from the computer.

((Hello Jacob))

"That's it?" Jacob asked, bemused, "What about: what happened to you Jacob? Fall down a flight of stairs?"

"Or, Jacob, you look like crap,"

"maybe even, hey Jacob, haven't you learned to duck?"

Sonili chuckled a little, but it was a mechanical, polite sound in our head. Jacob limped over to the Andalite girl, and looked at the screen. He didn't recognize the equation, but I did.

((Why is she trying to balance N-space trigonometry? It's a simple feedback loop with no answer…)) I mused.

"Hey, Esplin wants to know why you're messing with N-space trigonometry. She thinks it can't be solved," Jacob asked.

((That is the point. It has no solution, because it has no end. It's like time, in a way)) Sonili explained.

Jacob knew _why_ she was doing it, even if he didn't know the particulars of _how_.

It was a distraction, so she didn't have to think about Evaan, blood, and murder.

"Well, thanks for dashing to the rescue. You did good, kid," Jacob said, serious.

Sonili stared at her hooves mutely.

"No matter what, I'm proud of you." Jacob turned to leave, but a thought came to him, "Oh, Esplin wants to thrash you at Chess, and she's _bored_, so anytime you want to play…" Jacob trailed off, and we left.

((What if I don't play?)) I challenged.

((Well then, you get to watch a twelve year old-alien girl completely humiliate me, and by extension, _you_)) Jacob answered easily.

((When you put it that way…)) I said warily.

((Damn straight. Now, I'm hungry. Where would they hide the food…?))

((()))

((We are _still_ on course for Earth, human, so you may stop asking "_are we there yet"_)) Dr. Helaine told Jacob. Her cold demeanor was a marked change from the wary professionalism we had enjoyed.

Torfan entered the cockpit, where we had been annoying the doctor.

((Good, you're both here. There's a… situation… in the cargo bay)) the _aristh_ said awkwardly.

((()))

((What did they get into?)) I asked. Jacob didn't get any closer than twenty-feet.

((I have _no idea_…)) he gasped, trying to inhale through his mouth only.

Jett and Taff looked like naughty puppies (at least, that's what Jacob's mental image was) both had their heads hanging, looking at their clawed feet.

((It is a peculiar… odor…)) Torfan choked, standing thirty feet back.

"Do we know if it's poisonous?" Jacob asked. Dr. Helaine shrugged, standing beside her daughter, ((If it is, we'll know in a few hours)) she said bluntly.

"That's a bit harsh, doctor," Jacob said sharply.

((What do you wish me to do? All we have is what the Yeerk's possessed in the med-bay, and I am no expert in Hork-bajir physiology)) Dr. Helaine pointed out.

"You're all heart, doctor," Jacob muttered.

((Are there any decontamination chambers? Perhaps in the airlock?)) I suggested.

Jacob relayed my request, but Dr. Helaine shook her head, ((An _Andalite_ vessel would have such a countermeasure, but the Yeerks do not, at least, not on a vessel as small as this))

I had feared as much, but again, I am a xeno-geneticist, not an engineer.

"We don't have any tomato juice, right?" Jacob asked, only half serious.

((I doubt a skunk is responsible for this)) I said sarcastically.

"Smells sort of like it though," Jacob observed, and he had a very peculiar image: Some sort of pale creature with spider like legs and a long tail wrapped around the face of an Earth skunk… and something _terrible _bursting out of the Skunk's ribcage.

((I also _highly_ doubt that a… _xeno-skunk_ is responsible)) I said derisively… although I did not mock Jacob when he quickly glanced up at the ceiling, checking for ominous strings of drool. I had his memories. I was also terrified of the _Alien_ movie. Thankfully, I believed the creature mythical, a mere human fabrication. At least… I desperately hoped so.

((()))

((Jacob?)) Sonili called, tentatively.

Jacob looked up from the Dracon beam he was field-stripping, under my watchful gaze. ((Isolate and lock the capacitor before you set it down!)) I snarled.

Ruefully, Jacob ensured that the weapon would not randomly begin charging and eventually explode. _Then_ he set his work aside, carefully.

"What do you need, kid?"

((Have you ever… killed someone?)) she asked.

"Free-humans?" he inquired.

((I guess))

"On purpose?"

((Yes))

Jacob stared at his grease stained hands for a second, and for a brief flash, the black stain was blood, not lubricant.

"No… not on _purpose_."

((But… you have killed on accident?)) Sonili asked, grasping at straws.

"Yes. On accident. Once," Jacob whispered, and I felt an almost invisible wall of steel begin to crumble. I'd never realized its existence, neither had Jacob.

I stood with him, as the memory surged into his mind, something evil, something that had been forced deep, where the light of day might never touch it. I felt fear, mine, or Jacob's, I couldn't tell. This was a bad-thing.

I saw through his eyes. Eric, perhaps ten, or eleven, was dressed in a child's baseball uniform. We stood out in the front yard of the old house. The sun beat down on us, it was the summer. The grass was dead beneath our bare feet, little more than dirt. Eric had a glove, we didn't. I couldn't see what we were wearing, but it was hot, and sweat kept running into our eyes, and down our back. We had begged him and begged him all week to help us practice, try-outs were on Monday, and we wanted to be on the team _very_ badly. We had dreamed of nothing else all summer. Finally, Eric had given in, to make us stop.

"Come_-on_ Jay! Catch the ball!" Eric shouted, annoyed with our poor performance. We'd been outside for an hour. Eric was throwing hard though, and if we didn't catch it, it hurt.

"Don't throw so_ hard_, Eric," we complained, sucking our stinging fingers, and tossed the ball back. Eric caught it, effortlessly, in his glove, and gave it a little spin up, snatching it out of the air with his throwing hand, wound-up, and fired the ball at us in less than a second. He made it look so _easy_. Distracted, we didn't quite catch the ball, and it clipped our ear, _very_ painfully.

"Stop cry'in, or I'm going in!" Eric snarled. Something in us snapped.

"Shut-up!" We screamed, and threw the ball as hard as we could at his face. He ducked, and the ball hissed past him, across the yard, before finally slapping into Mr. Gillian's van, and bouncing to the asphalt. There was a clear dent in the metal side of the van.

We both stared at the ball. "That was… really hard…" Eric said, impressed.

We rubbed at our throbbing ear.

"Hey stop, rubbing your ear, you're fine. Here, throw the ball again…" Eric said, he trotted out into the street, grabbed the ball, and turned to throw it back.

We never heard the car. One second, our brother was looking at us like we had done something cool… and the next second…

Blood. The car didn't stop. The driver panicked, and fled. We stepped into the street, and walked towards the limp, bloody clothing. It couldn't be our brother. No. He was on the other side of the van. We just didn't see him. It couldn't be— our brother's face looked up at us, head twisted impossibly. His eyes were wrong. He couldn't be—

((_Jacob._)) _I _said softly. Jacob stared down at his brother. He had done this. He had gotten mad. He had killed his brother. He had—

((JACOB)) I shouted. My friend blinked, and the memory faded. He was shaken. I never realized how much had been repressed. Jacob swallowed, and we looked at Sonili. She was waiting, concerned.

"When I was about half your age. My brother and I… we were playing catch, with a baseball. I wasn't very good at it… and I got mad at my brother. I threw the ball as hard as I could… he ran into the street to get it. And… we should have been more careful. If I hadn't thrown so hard… if we'd looked… A car hit him. It killed him," Jacob trailed off, staring at the wall… but we could see Eric in the street again.

((I… see…)) Sonili said quietly.

"Yes… I think you do," Jacob replied sadly.

((I keep seeing his face, when I'm not busy, I close my eyes, and I… I see him collapse again. I see his eyes. I can't… I can't sleep)) Sonili admitted.

"It will get worse, girl. It feels like you can't talk… but you have to tell someone. The more you talk, the less it hurts. But it will take time," Jacob explained quietly.

((We are approaching our exit coordinates)) Torfan relayed over the ship's intercom. The ship shuddered for a few seconds. Then I heard power relays whine.

((Our shields just activated)) I said, startled.

Why were the shields up?

Jacob immediately began to run for the bridge.

((()))

((Brace!)) Dr. Helaine barked, grabbing her console, as we entered the bridge at a run… and we saw a familiar shape backlit by Earth's moon.

The Bladeship's weapons slammed into our stealthed ship, slapping into our shields.

((Shields have failed!)) Torfan reported.

((Return fire, target their sensor array!)) Dr. Helaine snapped.

((Firing)) Torfan answered.

Jacob clung to the auxiliary system's console, staring at the display without understanding. I however, was up to the task.

((Give me control!)) I barked. Jacob didn't resist, and I moved my arms, stealing power from life-support, and dumped it into the weapons system.

((Minimal damage to Bladeship, but…)) Dr. Helaine peered intently at the readouts, and excitedly reported, ((The sensor array is destroyed, they're blind!))

((I'm detecting multiple power signatures, originating from the far-side of the planet)) Torfan said warily.

((No doubt a pool-ship, launching fighters)) Dr. Helaine decided.

"We have a seven minute window, before the fighters will be close enough to detect us," I said, through Jacob's mouth.

((Take us down, _aristh_)) Dr. Helaine ordered.

((Sir, our starboard engine was damaged. If we land, we may never escape atmosphere again)) Torfan pointed out, worried.

"If we don't hide, we'll be dead in seven minutes, once the bug-fighters can triangulate us and send their telemetry to the Bladeship," I growled angrily.

((Take us down, now!)) Dr. Helaine repeated.

((Very well. Hold on)) Torfan dropped the nose of the scout ship, and I could feel gravity increasing. Fire blazed as we cut through the upper atmosphere, and the ship began to shudder from reentry.

((A little steep…)) Jacob questioned.

((The deeper into atmosphere we travel, the slower we will become, so that seven minute estimate is going to drop down to something closer to three minutes. We need to get down quickly, and find a place to hide the ship)) I explained.

((Ah. This is why I stick to crashing. Much simpler)) Jacob joked tensely.

((()))

"There, take us down in those mountains, on the eastern side," I said, pointing at the sensor display, "The iron and cobalt deposits should mask the ship from orbital scans."

((Should?)) Dr. Helaine challenged.

I shrugged, "It will break up the metallurgical profile of the ship on most Yeerk scanners, and if we can repair the stealth shielding, we _will_ be undetectable," I explained.

((The argument is irrelevant)) Torfan said in fear, ((Starboard engine has failed. If I don't land now, we will crash))

((Then land!)) Dr. Helaine barked.

((Hold on to something!)) Torfan snarled. The ship bucked wildly under us as the Andalite cadet fought to land the ship intact.

I redirected power fully from life support, as well as other non-essential systems, and dumped it directly into the shields. Over half of the shield emitters had overloaded, but a few had survived. This let me create a very weak shield around the ship. In Jacob's words, it was like a layer of bubble-wrap, compared to our original shield made of hardened steel and ceramics.

"I've raised a weak shield, it won't stop much, but it should cushion our impact," I reported grimly.

I quickly explained to Jacob, in the intervening seconds, what I had done. (It was a distraction, but effective for _him_)

((Normally a shield has hundreds of emitters, spread evenly across the surface of the vessel. Each acts essentially as a support strut. Imagine pressure is being exerted against the entire surface of the shield equally. With more supports, you can use less energy to maintain the same strength of field. With fewer supports, you have to use more energy… it's all about leverage)) I explained.

((Ah… so this is why, even with twice the normal amount of energy, our shields won't stop anything heavier than spit-balls)) Jacob realized.

((Exactly. But I think we need to brace now)) I said.

((Brace for impact!)) Torfan shouted.

The mountains were very large on the forward viewscreen. They were getting larger too, very quickly.

((Ten dollars says this going to hurt)) Jacob wagered.

((Why are we wagering money we do not have, against each other?)) I asked, curious.

((It's a tradition. If you make a bet, then it means you'll probably live to collect, especially if you _lose_ the bet. Its simple karma)) Jacob tried to explain. Except the way he said _karma_ made it sound like _economics,_ or_ physics_.

Torfan angled the ship up at the last second, and we smashed into a stand of evergreen trees. I almost lost my grip on the console, and the deck shook itself out from under me… but I still had a "death grip" on the console.

((Emergency shield has failed)) Dr. Helaine reported, her four legs braced wide, even as her weaker arms (compared to mine) had difficulty holding onto her console.

The noise of wood slapping into the hull was deafening. Our speed was falling rapidly though, and already I could feel the pull as our body tried to remain in motion.

"Damn it!" Jacob barked, his knee-jerk response to resume control as my fingers slipped from the console. No one heard us, and Jacob tried to grab something else as we tumbled past, smashing into Dr. Helaine, bringing her down on top of us in a dangerous sprawl of hooves and _somewhere,_ a tail blade. We rolled on, and collided with Torfan, at the helm, in the tip of the cockpit, where the console provided a firm _wall_ to come to _rest_ against.

**Jacob Nyles:**

"Ugh… that actually went _pretty good,"_ I realized. Andalite fur filled my mouth, and I turned my head, spitting it out. I didn't realize before, but they _do_ have a distinct odor. It's not as strong as a Hork-bajir, or Taxxon, but they _do_ have one… it reminded me of… citrus fruit, mixed with clean horse.

((You are an expert, then?)) Dr. Helaine asked harshly, trying to untangle herself.

"Well, this is my third crash, so… yeah. The first one I broke some ribs. The second one, I almost drowned," I replied easily, working my fingers into the mesh of the deck plate, and pulled my way out of the dog-pile.

((Have you ever actually _landed_, then, human?)) Torfan grumbled, painfully finding his feet, and helping the doctor up.  
"Personally? No. Esplin has, but that was during basic training," I admitted.

((I only landed once)) Esplin told me, embarrassed, ((So hard I crushed the bug-fighter's landing skids. They didn't let me into a cockpit after that))

((What aren't you saying?)) I asked, sensing that Esplin was withholding something.

((I… intentionally damaged the craft. I was afraid I would be assigned to the combat flight program, instead of the tactical sciences division)) Esplin admitted.

((You flunked your placement test? Isn't that like cheating, on a personality quiz?)) I laughed.

The Andalites ignored me though, trying to take stock of the ship.

((The landing hurt, but we are uninjured. Who collects the ten dollars?)) Esplin asked, curious.

((No one, but I'll split the difference with you)) I offered. Esplin laughed at me.

((You claim to be an enlightened people, but your superstitions…)) she trailed off.

Sonili found us in the hallway. She was limping, but waved off my help.

((It's just a sprain. I can't find Jett, or Taff)) she explained, worried.

"I'll go look," I promised. If I were an arboreal species where would I go when the shit hit the fan? Why, I'd go up, of course.

I tried to enter the cargo hold, but the crates had slid forward, and piled against the hatch.

((There should be a maintenance access hatch…)) Esplin reassured me. It took us a while to find it, since neither one of us knew where it was.

((There, do you see?)) Esplin said.

I looked, and eventually discerned the shape of a hatch. It had no fittings, so it was just a thin outline in the wall.

((It has to be large enough for Taxxon technicians to enter, for repairs)) Esplin explained. It was kind of an oval shape, about a meter wide and only half a meter tall.

((Uh, Taxxons are bigger than that)) I pointed out.

((They can flatten their carapace. They are natural burrowers and tunnel makers)) Esplin explained.

"Whatever," I triggered the maintenance hatch and crawled inside. I could smell burning plastics and fried electronics. The acrid fumes burned my eyes a little.

((We are _so_ getting cancer from this shit)) I complained, awkwardly crawling through the tube. The tiny amber emergency lights had shorted out in some of the sections… and in those sections some panels had exploded, leaving painfully jagged gaps in the floor and ceiling, hidden by the darkness… but there wasn't any power running through them thankfully. I was feeling a little light headed by the time we reached a junction labeled in _galard_.

((Take the left branch. It should lead directly to the cargo hold)) Esplin told me.

((Oh good)) I said brightly, but Esplin ignored my sarcasm.

We emerged from the cancer-tunnel, into air that tasted _heavenly_. It was slightly stale air, (since Esplin had undermined the O2 scrubbers to power weapons and shields) but it was still breathable, and _cancer free_.

((Why are you so worried about cancer?)) Esplin asked, amused.

((You bring up a valid point)) I acknowledged, ((considering I'm talking to an inoperable brain tumor)) I laughed.

Esplin didn't think it was funny. I tried to show her _why_ it was funny to compare her to an unwanted malignant cellular growth, but she didn't understand. She did pick up on the key component of the humor was because I _didn't_ think she was a tumor. She still didn't "get it" but her anger diminished. It took me a moment to realize that I'd offended her, deeply.

((I'm sorry)) I said quietly.

((You speak before you think)) Esplin noted sourly.

((I think-speak before I think?)) I asked

((You know what I meant)) Esplin said sharply.

((Yes. I don't think you're a _tumor_, Esplin. It was in poor taste. You're my friend. Among humans, we tease our friends, by saying things we believe to be the complete opposite of the truth)) I told her.

((Let's just move on)) Esplin said, but I could feel the tension had mostly disappeared. Her head _knew_ I hadn't meant it, but the head and the heart don't always see eye to eye, even for a Yeerk.

"Jett? Taff?" I shouted. The cargo hold was pitch-black. Power had obviously failed in here.

"Jett hear Jah-kob. Jett not see. Jett stay," a voice said, above me. I felt my way along the floor, banging my shins on crates and pallets in the dark.

"Is Taff with you, Jett?" I called.

"Jett not know. Jet not see," Jett answered. I groaned. I'd give my left pinkie toe for a flashlight, or even a road flare… especially after hitting it on that last corner, I wouldn't mind amputation.

((You're serious. You would sacrifice a minor appendage for a temporary benefit, without hesitation… but you will agonize over sacrificing a knight for a queen)) Esplin noted, puzzled.

((Humans are illogical)) I echoed her words back to her.

((I fear the human condition is contagious. I can _almost_ fathom your reasoning)) Esplin admitted.

I pulled a communicator off my belt, "Hey, this is Jacob. I'm in the cargo hold. Can someone get some power to the emergency lighting in here?"

There was a hiss of static, but a voice answered,

((Human, reduce your signal strength 95%. You are not using tight-beam communication)) Dr. Helaine rebuked.

Oh shit. I dialed down the transmission strength swiftly.

"Sorry," I apologized. Great, they probably thought I just tried to betray them. Again.

((Good. Your transmission shouldn't escape the outer hull. Now, about your request. We're having trouble accessing and rerouting power manually))

"The maintenance access… you don't fit…" I said, in realization.

((Precisely. You are on your own until you return to our position)) Dr. Helaine apologized.

"We'll figure something out," I sighed, and returned the little device to my belt.

((There should be an emergency tool-kit, mounted to the wall)) Esplin told me.

((Uh… where?)) I asked.

((I don't know, but it is part of standard precautions)) Esplin replied.

I eventually found a wall, and made my way along it, tracing it with my hand. My shins and toes were throbbing angrily by the time my hand felt something protruding from the surface of the wall. _Please God, let it be a light_. I prayed, and felt the edges of the bulge. It was rectangular, and made of metal.

((Try tugging. It should be attached by magnetic brackets, not rivets)) Esplin said.

I hauled on the object, and after initial heavy resistance, it popped free of the wall, sending us tumbling into the dark. I hit some sharp corners on the way down, and cursed for a few minutes.

((If you are quite finished attempting to verbally peel paint from bulkheads, could we look at the tool kit, please?)) Esplin reprimanded.

I popped the catches on the kit, and opened it up, my fingers running blindly over the contents. After a lot of fumbling, we found the flashlight, and its switch. A beam of cold blue light spilled out of one end, right into my face. I winced, and directed the flashlight away, playing it over the cargo hold. Like I thought, most of the unsecured crates had slid to the front of the bay, piling up against the wall, blocking the hatch.

((Your people really need to learn about cargo straps)) I grumbled.

"Jett see Jah-kob"

I panned the light up, and located one of the Hork-bajir clinging to a cross-brace.

"Jett, help me find Taff!" I called.

"Jett do that," Jett promised, and dropped down to the deck beside me. I quickly checked, but Taff wasn't at the back of the hold, or anywhere else near the ceiling. That left the pile… and it didn't look good. Some of those crates weighed several hundred pounds, easy.

"Let's start shifting this shit," I sighed, my heart heavy. It took us nearly an hour to find her, shifting the lighter containers away, slowly whittling the pile down.

She hadn't… well, she didn't make it. I stared down at the crushed body, barely recognizable as a Hork-bajir. "I'm sorry, Taff," I whispered.

"Where Taff?" Jett asked, confused.

"Taff is… gone, Jett," I said gently.

"Where Taff go?" Jett asked.

I pointed to Taff's body, "Taff is dead."

"…is true," Jett answered sadly.

We used a tarp to hold and wrap most of the trailing pieces together and moved the body into a corner. It was all we could do.

We finished shifting the crates away from the hatch, and managed to force it open. Sonili was waiting on the other side. She knew from our expressions what had happened.

"The crates weren't secured… she didn't get to the ceiling in time…" I said hollowly. I hugged the little alien girl while she cried, and I cried too.

((()))

"Taff was just another casualty of this damned war. In the brief time I knew her, she proved the strength of her spirit. She won't be the last, but she died free, among friends, and her loss will not be forgotten," I said.

((Good bye Taff. I will miss your presence)) Esplin thought, silently.

I stepped back from the body, still beneath the tarp. Sonili, Jett, and Torfan stood behind me. Sonili stepped forward, ((You will always be my friend, and I will always miss you. Good bye)) she whispered, grief making her movements jerky, and her speech hasty.

Jett stepped forward then, "Jett miss Taff. Taff with Mother Sky. Taff free. Jett stay, fight more."

Torfan leveled his shredder, and carefully adjusted the settings on the weapon. I did not look away as the blue beam turned the tarp and body into a pile of ash. I had the afterimage burned into my vision for several minutes, before it faded. We scooped up the ashes into a second tarp, and tied it off. We would spread her ashes later. We had to survive first.


	10. Chapter 10: Obstacles

**Jacob Nyles:**

((Even if we repair the stealth field, there is still a clear trail through the vegetation, revealing where _something_ crash landed)) Dr. Helaine pointed out.

"That one's easy," I said. Esplin had already thought of it.

"We need to take an explosive, and cause an avalanche. The snow will obscure the trail, and disguise the damage."

((We have no explosives)) Dr. Helaine pointed out impatiently. I touched the sensor screen, and panned to a location twenty kilometers to the east.

"There is a human settlement here. If they don't have explosives, we can at least acquire vehicles, and drive to a location that does," Esplin explained.

Dr. Helaine looked at the town thoughtfully… ((The external temperatures though… none of us can withstand them for long, and I have no morph better suited…))

"Clothing," I said bluntly, resuming control of my mouth.

((Aside from what you are wearing, we have none)) Dr. Helaine answered.

"There should be thermal survival blankets on this ship _somewhere_," I explained, "We can cut them and tape them into makeshift clothes. It _should_ keep us warm enough to reach the town alive."

The Andalites were unsettled by the plan. The idea of… _clothes_.

"How do you travel on planets with hostile environments?" I asked, curious.

Dr. Helaine and Torfan exchanged a glance, ((Usually there is no reason to walk upon such a planet. We remain in our ships. If we _must_, there are environmental containment shields, which will trap a breathable atmosphere in a bubble around us…))

I shook my head, "Fine, freeze to death."

((That might not be necessary)) Dr. Helaine interrupted, ((I've been monitoring the primitive radio frequencies your species uses and… there are radio-emissions originating from this location)) she back tracked on the sensor display, and magnified a section ten kilometers north-east of us.

"Do we have an actual image for this area?" I asked. Dr. Helaine shook her head, ((Topographical resolution only))

"Can I hear the radio-broadcasts?"

Torfan shrugged, and tapped a button on the console.

"This is Park Station Whisky-seven, go ahead, over,"

"Whisky-seven, this is Trucker, how's the weather, over,"

"Trucker, the weather radar's clear, but be advised, thunder's been reported to the south, over,"

"Whisky-seven, how are your supplies, over?"

"Trucker, running a little low on non-perishables, but we can wait. No sense getting killed, over,"

"Whisky-seven, it looks clear down here… I'll risk the run, over"

I looked up from the sensor screen, "It sounds like a ranger station,"

((What are rangers? Warrior-scouts?)) Torfan asked. Apparently the word hadn't translated cleanly.

"Kind of, they keep people from overhunting, make sure they obey the laws, and do a lot of search and rescue. They aren't military though, they're civilians," I explained.

((I see…)) Torfan said, but it was clear he didn't.

"Doctor, where was Trucker's signal coming from?" I asked.

A second red dot appeared on the screen, and I estimated the distance between them was about three kilometers.

((()))

Sonili and Jet were left with Dr. Helaine, who promptly put them to work inventorying the cargo hold, while she went to work on the ship's systems.

((()))

As it turned out, an Andalite can be as stubborn as a human, when the mood takes them.

((Fool)) Esplin spat.

((Be nice)) I replied tiredly. Torfan accompanied me through the forest. We were running, down hill (mostly), but that wouldn't last long. There were only two thermal blankets. We'd cut one of them in half, and wrapped my feet up to the knee in the blanket, and tape. The second blanket had a hole in the middle now, and I was wearing it like a poncho, with more tape wrapped around it to keep it closed. My bare arms had already gone numb, and I couldn't feel my nose, or ears… but we were making good time. The Andalite's hooves gave him almost no traction in the snow, a couple of times, Torfan had sunk up to a knee in a hidden depression, almost breaking that leg. On the bright-side, my feet were quite toasty.

((There _is no_ bright side, Jacob)) Esplin complained sourly.

((Focus on the positive)) I argued.

((Like what?)) Esplin snarled.

((We're finally home)) I said simply.

She fell silent after that, deep in thought. I didn't notice.

((How much further, human?)) Torfan asked, shivering so bad it looked like he was having a seizure.

I looked at the hand scanner, "About three kilometers," I answered.

((Close enough)) Torfan decided, and his stalk-eyes sucked into the top of his head, and his fur disappeared, which was _not_ an attractive look… and probably cold as hell. I decided to look away, and focused on running in place.

((Much better)) Torfan sighed, and I looked over my shoulder. A Hork-bajir stared back. His (well, actually, _her_, but it doesn't really matter) leather hide was ill-suited to the cold, but the brownish hue of that skin would better conceal him in the trees than his natural _blue_ fur.

We covered the rest of the run in silence. I tucked the scanner back onto my belt when we had closed to half a kilometer. From there, we walked.

The Andalite used a small cave to remorph his Hork-bajir, even though he still had an hour left… which temporarily solved the frost-bite problem. I was not so lucky, and my hands were firmly wedged into my armpits.

I could hear the roar of a truck engine approaching.

((What is that?)) Torfan asked nervously, shredder in hand. In truth, we should have switched weapons, as a shredder was never designed to be used by the blunt, powerful claws of a Hork-bajir… but Torfan was more familiar with a shredder.

"Relax. It's just their supply truck. In fact…" I trailed off.

"We could stun the rangers, and the driver. That would give you two human morphs to pick from. The rangers wake up like nothing happened, and we've left with the truck driver. We get to a town, leave him in his truck, and he wakes up thinking he dozed off…" it could work.

((It will _probably _work)) Esplin said.

((It is an acceptable plan)) Torfan decided. We snuck to the edge of the trees, and saw a heavy-boned _ancient_ blue pick-up truck, the solid steel frame type. It had snow-chains, and was laboring its way up an icy switch-back road. At the top, a ranger in a green parka was watching, radio in hand. I think the ranger was transmitting observations to the driver. The wind picked up, on the edge of the trees, and sent a knife straight through me.

"Let's sneak in the back and… wait for them…" I chattered. My comrade didn't protest.

The station itself looked like a two-story house, almost. There was a long covered porch along the front of the building, with a steeply pitched roof. The back door wasn't locked.

I lifted my Dracon beam, and opened the door.

"Cliff? I thought you were still outside—" I cut the woman off, stunning her in the back before she finished turning. I caught her before she hit the ground, and dragged her to the nearby table, setting her up like a rag doll, slumping her in the chair, resting her head on her arms. With a jolt, a realized that the first human I'd touched in almost six years had also been rendered unconscious by violent means… by my hand. I really hoped I wasn't setting a trend.

"Clear the rest of the rooms," I whispered. Torfan nodded, his clawed talons clicking on the wooden floor. I snuck to the front of the station, and twitched a curtain aside. The first ranger was still directing the truck driver. I watched until Torfan found me, ((The rest of the building is empty))

"It looks like the truck has almost reached the top… shit." I breathed.

((What's wrong?)) Torfan asked.

"If we're trying to pass this off as everyone got drunk and passed out or something, but the trucker left, we have to wait until they finish unloading the truck, or we do it for them…"

Torfan realized what I meant. (( I see))

"Get ready to make a run for the back door." I whispered.

The ranger outside walked back and stood on the porch, while the trucker ponderously reversed, and backed the truck towards the station. The driver got out, and the tailgate dropped. As soon as they reached in…

"Out!" I hissed.

We scrambled out the back door. "Get on the roof, keep an eye on them" I whispered. I ducked behind a rusting outdoor propane tank, listening.

((They are still unloading the vehicle)) Torfan reported every two minutes. Finally, he said ((The humans have finished unloading, the driver has been invited inside, for refreshment))

I wished I could talk back, but I didn't dare use my communicator outside, in case the orbiting Yeerk ships detected the signal, which is why I hadn't brought it.

((We should have arranged a signal of some kind)) Esplin said quietly.

"Torfan!" I called, as loudly as I dared, cupping my mouth with my hands.

Finally, on the third attempt, each steadily louder, a leathery face looked down at me.

I gestured for him to get down, and he simply dropped.

((What is it?))

"They're inside. Give me your shredder." I whispered.

((Why?))

"Because they're probably together. I want to stun both at the same time, and if they see me, it won't be as bad as seeing a Hork-bajir," I explained. Reluctantly, Torfan handed me his weapon, and I gestured to the door. I think his reluctance had more to do with his estimation of our capabilities with a shredder, than the fear I was going to use it on him... or maybe he was remembering the last time we met, with me holding a shredder… and him twitching on the floor…

Torfan took the knob and eased the door open about a foot. I slipped inside, and the door closed quietly behind me. I could hear voices from the kitchen area. Someone was laughing. I crouched by the doorway, and peeked inside. Trucker was brewing himself a cup of coffee, and "Cliff" was hunting for something in the cabinet. I smiled, and fired, lunging forward. Both humans slumped, and I dropped my weapons, grabbing their coats before they could hit the ground.

I eased them down… and got to work.

((()))

"I am simply nervous, that you are piloting this vehicle. VEE-HIC-KULL," Cliff said with his mouth. I squinted at Cliff, "Shut up, Torfan. I can't _fly_, but I _can_ drive."

((Even if you haven't done it for six years)) Esplin commented unhelpfully.

We hit a slick spot, and I scrambled to keep us on the road.

((And never in snow)) Esplin said tightly, her fingernails clenched in the back of my head.

"Capability and proficiency are not the same!" Cliff complained, nervous.

Trucker was squished between Torfan and me… but this was a big, wide truck, and Trucker was whip-thin. I wasn't used to a stick-shift though. One good thing about terrible roads is you don't really ever get out of first gear… which was good, because I didn't know how, anyway.

((Have you thought of how to explain Trucker's black-out?)) I asked Esplin.

((Not yet)) she answered.

We'd set up Cliff, and the other ranger at the table. Some whisky was sprinkled on hair and clothing, as well as a tiny bit in the mouth. Then the bottle had been dumped down the sink, with a little bit left in a pair of shot glasses. When they woke up, they'd have a killer migraine… and feel almost exactly like they'd just shared a bottle of whisky. I didn't know how they would explain the clothes missing from their closets…

However I hadn't grabbed a bottle to frame Trucker with.

We survived another corner, contrary to the sounds Torfan was making, and I could see chimney smoke rising in the distance, the town, no doubt.

((Why not crash?)) Esplin suddenly suggested.

((I'm trying _not_ to right now)) I grumbled.

((No, for Trucker. He will have a headache, perhaps give him a bruise on his forehead. Pretend he slid off the road and crashed…)) Esplin explained.

((Better do it where he can see the town… and it would explain why he doesn't remember driving back…)) I mused.

"Hey Torfan, I'm going to crash," I said.

"See!? You should not be piloting—" Torfan started until I cut him off,

"I'll let you out first, you sissy," I slowed to a crawl.

"What is your plan?" Torfan asked suspiciously. I smirked at him, "You'll see. Just leave Trucker in here."

Reluctantly, the alien got out, shivering into his borrowed parka. I buckled Trucker into the passenger seat, and slipped my own seat belt on, now that I had room.

((That tree looks good. Also, the ground is steep there, and the road turns sharply))

Esplin suggested. I looked at the location, and agreed with her assessment. It would do nicely. I slowly accelerated, until the engine began to whine because I was still in first gear. I closed my eyes, and my stomach fluttered as the truck left the ground… then we hit the tree, and my seatbelt knocked the breath out of me. The truck was still running.

((()))

We left Trucker strapped into his truck, in the driver's side, and properly arrayed him, then left the scene of the "accident"

The truck was still idling when we walked into town.

**Sonili-Esth-Fastil:**

((We've already inventoried that stack though)) I complained. Mother glared at me, ((You claimed they were _parts_))

((They are!))

((What _kind_ of parts?)) Mother whispered angrily.

((I'm not an engineer. I don't know)) I said, my stalk-eyes stiffening.

Mother bristled at the defiance in my voice, but after a moment, she relented, ((Keep working))

We had been at this for _hours_. Half of the containers were stacked neatly, in clusters by their contents. Most of the containers (so far) held what one would expect; foodstuffs, replacement parts, computer components, medical supplies, tools, etc. We had found a small case of six hand Dracon beams though, complete with spare power cells. Some of the cargo was damaged though, shock proof containers notwithstanding.

Jett was quiet, lifting anything I asked her to, but she didn't offer to help me inventory. I didn't realize she couldn't read. I should have, but it just never occurred to me. We were almost finished, with only the heaviest containers left when my mother returned.

((Sonili. May I speak with you?)) she asked.

((Just a moment, I only have two containers left)) I said, distracted. She waited quietly until I finished, and I handed the datapad to her. She took it and glanced cursorily at it.

((I know I have not given you as much attention as I should have…)) she started awkwardly, and I groaned.

((I haven't always been there for you, because of my work, but… I _wanted_ to be there, but the People needed me...)) my mother continued.

((I understand, mother, the needs of the People outweigh the needs of your daughter, or yourself)) I replied bitterly. My uncle had at least _tried_ to make time from his security duties for me. Mother became so engrossed in her work that occasionally she forgot to come home, for days at a time. I _hated_ her work. It stole my mother from me.

I remembered four months ago (it seems like eternity now) when I took the initial placement tests for the Academy. It was mandatory, but still… I had scored higher than my uncle (hardly a surprise), but also three percent higher than my mother. I had hoped, maybe, that I'd proved myself worthy of her attention… but no. She had glanced at the results, congratulated me, and proceeded directly to the lab; she'd just had a "breakthrough."

My uncle took off the entire day for me. He took me to the Vespinel gardens, and it was _beautiful_… but everything felt cold, and I could see my pain reflected in his eyes too. I had lost a mother to that damned laboratory, but my uncle had lost the woman he loved… even if she had never returned that love. After the death of my father, uncle had offered to take his brother's place, and assume parenthood of me in an official capacity, but mother could not be _bothered _with such foolishness.

I think what I wanted most, was a childhood, with my mother. Taff had been everything my mother was not; simple-minded, loving, and physically imposing. Taff had… perhaps not _adopted_ me, but simply accepted me as part of her family. Jett, and Jacob were also family to her… perhaps even Esplin, if Taff had been able to differentiate that Jacob and Esplin were separate entities.

With a jolt, I realized my mother had been speaking to me;

((— and I realize it must be difficult, but you can't blame yourself for the Hork-bajir's death. At most, they only live for sixty years regardless. If you must blame someone, blame the Yeerks—))

((No)) I said quietly, staring at my mother with all four eyes, a sign of challenge, or embarrassment, depending on the context. I stepped up, and looked into my mother's eyes. She still stood twenty-six centimeters higher than me, and perfectly proportioned, unlike me… but in that moment, I felt… powerful, beautiful, strong. I realized I had something my mother did not.

((Taff was not some _pet_ to me. She was able to fulfill a need you never have. She put me _first_. She believed I was _worthy_ of her attention, and time. You _realize _nothing that you cannot measure or study with your instruments)) I turned my back, and walked away.

((I have sacrificed _everything _for you!)) My mother snarled, ((You threw away your future for some _alien_, and a yeerk with a _guilty conscience_! You traded their lives for the life of a _prince!_))

I stopped, and looked at my mother. I saw Jacob in my mind once more, beaten, broken. Esplin may have deserved such treatment from past crimes I knew nothing of, but her host body, Jacob, could not have earned such a punishment… and Evaan had been willing to murder what he believed to be a _mere aristh_, to protect his secret. Some of my guilt turned to loathing.

((A prince is a hero of the People)) I agreed, ((But tell me… when a prince no longer serves _only_ the People, is he still a prince?))

((You dare?!)) my mother struck at me with the flat of her blade. She had never struck me before; I was caught off-guard.

Jett however, had fought Andalites for as long as she could remember. A yeerk had controlled her movements, true, but Jett had still been present. Her body had not been free so long as to forget that which had kept it alive.

"_Kap ghafrash Hruthin kawatnoj!_" Jett snarled, her forearm blade still raised, sporting a nick from deflecting the harder blade of my mother.

((I learned something from the _alien_, and the "Yeerk with a guilty conscience". Sometimes, family is more than bloodline or lineage. Sometimes… your _real_ family is those who care about you)) I said softly, placing a tiny, delicate hand on Jett's arm.

My mother stared at me, speechless, as a once mortal enemy shielded me from her.

In a quieter voice, I said ((You have your inventory. I think it would be best if you studied it privately))

My mother jerkily turned, and walked away, her movements tight and trembling. I could almost taste her rage and confusion. My mother was a genius, one of the brightest minds of the People. There was no scientific topic she could not eventually unravel… but unlike her, I understood _people_. This is what I possessed, which my mother could never dream of having.

**Esplin 1894:**

((Why are we even bothering with this?)) I asked, annoyed. Jacob shrugged, ((I'd rather not _steal_ everything))

We were carrying _firewood_ for some elderly human female, in exchange for a free meal.

((Why didn't you eat at the station?)) I complained.

((_Because_ they might not have another resupply for a while, _and_ they might need the food. I also wasn't hungry then)) Jacob explained.

((Torfan is waiting to leave)) I reminded him.

((Relax. He doesn't know how to drive)) Jacob replied.

I sat and stewed while Jacob slowly walked beside the withered human. He made _small talk_ while we walked… inane chatter about any variety of topics, the only objective, apparently, was to exchange words. By the time we reached the woman's house, on the edge of town, I was ready to explode. We were running out of time to conceal the crash, and Jacob was taking time to _eat_.

"Have you been here long?" _Berta_ asked.

"No, I just arrived this morning," Jacob replied.

"Oh? I heard the roads east of here were blocked."

"To _vehicles_. You can still walk on them."

Berta glanced at us, surprised, "You really _must_ be starved. The nearest town is what… forty miles?"

"My truck's somewhere along there…" Jacob joked.

Berta chuckled, and finally, we were given _food_. The second the smells hit us, Jacob's mouth began to water. Nutrient pellets and synthesized nutritional goop would prevent starvation, but they were no substitute for _food_.

Jacob hated clam chowder.

But he ate every spoonful, no longer remembering _why_ he hated something that tasted so amazing, and for the first time in months, our stomach did not gurgle in complaint at us. There was _bulk_ to the food, a heavy sense of weight, and wholesomeness. I stood right beside him, reveling in the taste and scents. Berta offered us seconds.

We accepted.

**Helaine-Mtalenon-Ashul:**

((The explosive is crude, but in sufficient quantity, it should suffice)) Torfan told me, over the tight band burst communication we were using. I glanced at the scanner telemetry he sent me. Judging from the distortions in the reading, he was shielding the scanner from casual observation with his body.

The scanner detected a sudden seismic imbalance, and a loud klaxon sounded.

((Can you send me a visual feed?)) I asked. Torfan fumbled with the settings on the communicator, and a shaky image of a crude looking quarry of some kind appeared.

I saw humans, miners no doubt, and they advanced into the tunnel, wearing crude filtration masks.

((Estimate?)) I asked.

((Three or four containers?)) he guessed.

((Then take five)) I decided.

That was easily said, but harder to do. The building that Torfan had scanned was quite durable, its walls were thick, and made of multiple layers of iron alloys, cast ceramics, and varying types of plastic polymers. The locking mechanism on the door was crude, but I could not remotely compromise it. Direct manipulation of an internal mechanism was required, in addition to an electronic locking device with a keypad, and a slot for a magnetic security strip. Torfan could not simply cut through the ten centimeter thick walls either, for two reasons;

First, Torfan had detected crude strands of electrified copper filaments, linked to some kind of device, which he believed (and I agreed) would sound an alarm if the current was disrupted in the filaments. It was an ingenious, and inexpensive system, despite its primitive set-up.

Second, he would have to tune his shredder output to an extremely fine beam. This would cause the interior temperature of the building to rise rapidly, and if any explosives were directly touching the wall, the heat would be conducted directly to them, and most of the compounds detected were highly unstable at elevated temperatures, to the point of spontaneous detonation…

There might have been a simple trick we could use to subvert the safeguards… but the _human_ was conspicuously absent, despite Torfan's thought-speak summons.

((Sir, I discretely scanned the town while we passed through, and detected materials, that if properly mixed and prepared, could be explosive...)) Torfan suggested.

((How long would it take?)) I asked, entertaining the possibility.

((It would depend upon how much of the substances we could procure, not to mention there is also the issue of portability. We still have to transport the finished explosive to the top of a rather large mountain))

((Call the human again)) I interrupted, glaring at the human building in the video. Torfan contacted the human via thought-speak, and informed him of his location, and that time was of the essence… _again_. The human proved more willing to cooperate if the request came from Torfan. The human was still unmanageable as a warrior. He lacked discipline. His heart ruled his head.

((()))

Torfan found a secluded stand of vegetation to strip out of his human clothing, and remorph human form. Then he waited, impatiently, for the human to arrive. I continued to analyze the human building for a weakness, shifting my hooves on the metal deck. It was starting to cool inside the ship, without power to the life support…

The human arrived nearly an hour later, on foot.

((Look thirty degrees to your right. I am on the hill)) Torfan informed him sharply, and he ambled towards the _aristh_, looking smug, for some reason known only to him.

((I have located a cache of human explosives, in that secured building)) Torfan pointed to the fabricated building in question.

((There is a mechanical locking mechanism, a magnetic strip, and an electronic key-pad on the door. There is an alarm tied into the walls, and some of the explosives are heat sensitive)) Torfan informed him.

The human frowned, staring at the building, "I asked around. Apparently the mine operates in shifts, around the clock, so we can't just go in at night and blow out the locks," Jacob told us as he scratched at the stubble on his jaw absently.

"Esplin and I have three ideas, but we don't have the time or preparation necessary for them. Also, they might endanger the miners," he said.

((What are they?)) I asked over the comlink. If nothing else we might be able to alter, or build upon one.

Jacob shrugged, "We could start a fire, heading towards the mine. They would have to evacuate the explosives in trucks. We dress up like miners, and help them load the explosives, and take one of the trucks. But wildfires are hard to start in winter, and besides, the fire might cut the miners off, or spread."

((What else?))

"We could pose as safety inspectors, or something, investigating possible negligence, maybe from anonymous tips we received… but I don't know how an inspector is supposed to act. They'd probably know we were fakes after five minutes," the human continued unhappily.

((What is the third idea?)) I asked.

"They have to open the magazine to get explosives for further blasting. We wait till they open it up for us, and rob them," he said.

((Why are you hesitant to implement that plan?)) I asked curious.

"We would need _human_ guns, masks… the explosives will be heavy, there are only two of us, and there will be a lot of miners involved… they'll follow our truck…" he shook his head, "Unless we kill everyone, we'll be caught." He had an angry gleam in his eye, "and I'm not killing _anyone_."

I considered his plans, ((Is there any way to simply bypass the locks?)) I asked. He shook his head, "I can't pick locks, and you said there's a key card and code pad too."

He hesitated for a moment, looking off into space. I felt a shiver of revulsion. The human was conversing with the _parasite_. After a moment, he looked back at me, "Actually… Esplin has an idea…"

((()))

The human was perched on the roof of one of the mining buildings, with a clear line of sight on the keypad. In his hands he held a crude optical magnification device, stolen from an unlocked vehicle, he called them _binoculars_. Torfan was also nearby. His scanner was recording electrical activity in the various circuits of the locks, in case the human was unable to observe the code, which was being relayed to my computer terminal. I might even be able to deduce the encrypted magnetic information, and duplicate it. I should be able to recreate the electrical signals in the locks, after seeing what the correct pathways were… but the Yeerk was unsure of this, hence the human and his _binoculars_.

A human with a white plastic helmet walked to the explosive's depository, with two miners. His clothing was ill-suited for the mine, unlike the durable jumpsuits the miners wore. Torfan watched the scanner intently, and smiled like a human when the electronic locks were bypassed, clearly showing the correct sequence.

The rest, just as the human had claimed, was _child's play_.


	11. Chapter 11: Repression

**Sonili-Esth-Fastil:**

Night was several hours away by the time Jacob and Torfan returned. They had a human vehicle with them, which Jacob maneuvered up the cargo ramp, and into the hold. Its exhaust stank, even though it only took Jacob a few seconds to turn off the engine.

Jacob vaulted up into the high cargo area of the vehicle, and began passing large, heavy crates to Torfan, who had morphed into a Hork-bajir (Jett). Jett also assisted.

"Hey, honey, can you start loading these back packs?" Jacob asked me, holding out sturdy canvas objects. I took them quietly, and did as Jacob asked. It took ten minutes, before the packs were loaded and ready. The tubular explosives were actually quiet easy to load into the packs. Jacob had the lightest load, only a single 36 kilogram pack, but Torfan was a Hork-bajir. He carried two packs, one strapped to the front, and the back.

I watched them leave, scrambling in the deepening gloom. If not for the cold, it looked like the larger feet and hands of the Hork-bajir gave Torfan an advantage. Finally, when I could no longer see them, and my stalk-eyes felt like they'd already frozen, Jett made me come back into the ship, and she chased me out of the freezing cargo hold.

"Cold no good for Son-ill-ee. Jah-kob good, have coat," she chastised.

((Yes, Jett, I know))

I wondered what Jacob had tied to his pack before he left.

((()))

((Jett… do you remember your mother?)) I asked, staring at the ugly ceiling of the Yeerk ship.

"Jett remember mother," Jett answered, reluctantly. I couldn't sleep, and neither could Jett, apparently.

((Did you ever fight with your mother?)) I asked.

"Jett's armblade kill mother," she replied bluntly.

((You blocked my mother's blade. Thank you for that, but you didn't kill her)) I gently corrected.

"Son-ill-ee no listen. Jett's armblade kill _Jett's_ mother," Jett patiently explained.

I was… speechless for a moment.

((I'm… sorry. How did it happen?)) I said, tentatively.

"When Jett was not Jett… first thing not-Jett do, use Jett's armblade, cut throat. Mother die. Too old, no use to not-Jett," Jett said bitterly.

((The Yeerk in your head made you kill your mother? Because she was too old?)) I clarified.

"Yes, is true."

((What… what is it like? To have a Yeerk in your head?)) I whispered.

Jett thought about it for a minute, "Jett see, Jett hear, Jett feel… but not-Jett look, not-Jett listen, not-Jet touch. Not-Jett move Jett, say things, do things, make Jett sad. Not-Jett happy when Jett sad. Not-Jett make Jett's body take Jett's friends, make them not-friends. Make them like not-Jett."

Jett hadn't told me anything I didn't already know, but the _way_ she said it…

"Then… good thing happen. Not-Jett guard ramp. Not-Taff shot, Not-Jett run up ramp, wait. Enemy run up ramp, dodge not-Jett, shoot not-Jett. Not-Jett wake up, not-Jett scared. Not-Jett hurt, this make Jett happy. Then, Not-Jett leave. Jett find not-Jett's pictures in Jett's head, but no find not-Jett. Jett _move _Jett. Jett listen, Jett touch, Jett look. Jett _free_."

I drifted off to sleep, thinking about what Jett had said. In my nightmare, _I_ was Jett… and my tailblade slit _my_ mother's throat, before becoming Evaan. Over and over.

I screamed, I begged, but darkness laughed in me, and told me I deserved this. Over and over, I killed mother, who turned into Evaan. He would look at me, ((I deserved this)) then die. I don't know how long this continued. Too long.

"Son-ill-lee not deserve this," a voice said, and I looked up, startled. Taff stared at me, confused, then her body flattened, crushed by invisible forces. I ran, screaming, but Taff followed me, broken and bloody, calling my name, like a lost child. A child that need her mother's attention.

"Sonili?"

I woke up, screaming, Taff had my shoulder! My tail-blade slashed.

"Shit!"

Taff let go, scrambling back.

"Calm down, girl, it's me! It's Jacob!" Taff yelped.

I finished waking up, but my hearts were still beating frantically, as my eyes adjusted to the dim room, and I saw _Jacob _holding his arm.

((Jacob?!)) I whimpered.

"And Esplin," Jacob replied grimly, one hand tightly clamped to his forearm.

Jett turned on one of the portable emergency lights, filling the room with cold blue illumination. Dark fluid trickled down Jacob's arm, from beneath his hand.

"Damn girl, you hit _bone_," Jacob hissed. Jett crouched beside Jacob, and encircled his upper arm with one of her hands, and squeezed tightly. Jacob groaned, but the trickle of blood slowed to a dribble. "Jett slow blood. Son-ill-ee bring mother," the Hork-bajir told me, scared.

I didn't hesitate.

((Mother!)) I screamed, galloping through the small ship, headed for the medical bay. ((Mother!)) I slammed through the hatch, and my mother looked up from a satchel, snatching her hand out, ((Sonili, what is it?)) she asked, flustered. I didn't notice.

((Jacob, I hurt Jacob!)) I screamed. My mother grabbed a portable field-kit from the emergency locker, and chased me as I ran back to the small cabin. Everything was just as I'd left it. My mother pushed me out of the way, and knelt beside Jacob, opening the field-kit. Hooves thundered on the metal deck, outside the cabin, ((Sonili? What's wrong?)) Torfan asked, trying not to crowd my mother.

"Like a damned circus," Jacob growled, "I know, I know, you can stop saying _I told you so_," he snarled at no one. It took me a moment to realize he was talking to Esplin.

((What did you do to my daughter, human?)) Mother hissed.

"What did _I _do?" Jacob retorted, "We'd like to know!"

Mother finished disinfecting the wound, and used the chemical sutures to reattach the severed muscles, veins, and arteries. Despite Jett's impromptu tourniquet, Jacob's dark blood had left a wide puddle on the deck. I hoped it looked worse than it was. My mother approximated the edges of Jacob's skin, and closed the wound with additional chemical sutures.

She packed up the field kit, and Jacob looked at her, "What about a pain-killer, doc?"

((I will do no such thing. The tissue has been rejoined, but it isn't _healed_. That will take time, two weeks, at least, probably less for you. You will forget your injury if it does not pain you, and most likely exacerbate the damage by accident)) my mother replied stiffly.

"Okay Jett, you can stop trying to pinch my arm off at the elbow," Jacob complained. Jett let go, and Jacob's face paled when blood began to flow, and sensation return, in his forearm.

He made as if to stand up, but Jett brooked no such foolishness. "Jah-kob be smart. _Not_ stand. Blood lost." She easily held him down with one hand, until she was certain he would listen. Then she looked at _me_, "Why hurt Jah-kob?"

Everyone looked at me, expectantly. ((I was having a nightmare, about Evaan. I mistook him…)) I whispered. It was not a lie, but it was not the truth, either.

Only Jacob seemed to pick up on that, but he didn't say anything.

Torfan shifted his weight, awkwardly, ((Perhaps… we should prepare for the avalanche?)) he suggested. At once, half (or a third, if Esplin was counted as a separate entity) the people in the room disappeared, leaving only the aliens, and me.

"Next time you're kicking and thrashing, I'll poke you with a really long _stick_," Jacob panted, his face beaded with sweat. I looked down at the bedding I'd been using on the floor. The thin pads had blood on them.

My internal clock told me I still had an hour until dawn, but there was no way I could sleep now. Instead, I cleaned up the blood. Jett tried to make Jacob comfortable, but Yeerk bunks can do only so much.

((Demolition will commence in one minute)) my mother said in public thought-speak.

"Sonili, can you pull up a visual, from an external camera, for me?" Jacob asked.

It took my trembling fingers twice as long as it should have, but I routed the feed from one of the operational cameras to a datapad, and projected it onto the cabin wall. The rivets and welds threw strange shadows on the image, but it was clear enough to understand. I directed the camera towards the mountain, where the explosives were.

((Demolition in ten seconds)) my mother warned us.

"Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two…" Jacob trailed off. Near the crown of the mountain, there was a sudden string of five distant plumes of snow, thrown into the air. There was no sound. At first, nothing happened.

"Come on… come _on_…" Jacob growled, nervous. Then an entire sheet of snow began to slide down the mountain, doubling in size every few seconds. Churning white filled the image, and I could feel the deck tremble, filling me with primal fear. The ship lurched suddenly, and the image went dark as literally tons of snow swept over the ship, and the valley.

"We are now officially cloaked, courtesy of General Winter. Welcome to Earth," Jacob chuckled, before he fell asleep.

I wandered out of the cabin, and went looking for Torfan. Jett wouldn't let anything happen to Jacob…

I found Torfan, in his new human morph, struggling in one of the maintenance access tubes. I deduced that he was attempting to reroute the stealth field emitters, without success. Mother was monitoring his progress from the cockpit.

Bored, I found myself once more at the small cabin Jacob was sleeping in. I accessed the ship's computer from the terminal in the cabin. I still didn't feel comfortable with the idea of willingly sharing the same room as my mother. I needed to do something, or I was going to scream.

I sifted through the encrypted files on the computer, breaking their ciphers. Most of them were personal logs by the commanding officer. He'd either been highly paranoid, or extremely cautious. I almost didn't notice the embedded anti-tampering code to delete the files. I lost a few of the older files before I could partition the code from the other files, and destroy it.

I glanced through the life of a Yeerk. It was boring. Lots of conspiracies and dual allegiances, between Vissers and Sub-vissers I didn't know. I was surprised that the Yeerk Empire was as dangerous as it was… with this much political maneuvering, their military should have been _paralyzed_.

Disgusted, I cached the decrypted logs into a compressed data module, decreasing the system load on the main computer. I trawled through the rest of the encrypted files, unraveling their useless secrets.

**Jacob Nyles:**

When I woke up, my arm was throbbing rhythmically, in time to the beat of my heart. Esplin grumbled something involving a lack of pain killers and Andalite anatomy. I think sharp objects might have also been involved, but she had detached partially from me, so her thoughts were fuzzy. I really didn't blame her. I was _jealous_.

I tried to sneak out of the bunk, but Jett was on me like a snake the moment I moved.

"Jah-kob sleep. Sleep good," she ordered.

"I'm fine," I lied, wiggling my fingers, "See?"

My arm exploded with flaming, suicidal army ants, but I kept my expression flat.

"Not true," Jett argued, having none of it.

"Look, I just want to check on some things, then I'll go _right_ back to sleep, I promise," I bargained. Jett considered this, and hissed. Now, normally, such a sound would have scared the _shit_ out of me, but I'd learned that it was the Hork-bajir equivalent to a _reluctant sigh_.

"Jah-kob hurry, sleep sooner," Jett grumbled, and trailed me from the cabin. I found that if I kept my arm folded up, so my hand was near my shoulder, the throbbing decreased. _Slightly._ I headed straight to the cockpit.

Apparently, the big-wigs had called a meeting, without the aliens. I walked in, and sat down at the sensor station, "Hey guys, wat'cha do'in?" I drawled.

Dr. Helaine glanced at me, irritated by my very presence.

((We are attempting to formulate a plan of attack)) Torfan volunteered.

"How's that going?" I asked, curious.

Torfan glanced at the doctor wryly, ((Poorly))

((If we wish to harm the Yeerks, we must deny them access to Kandrona. It is their greatest vulnerability)) Dr. Helaine said, as if repeating herself for the fifth time.

"Okay. How do we do that?" I asked the next logical question in this chain of thought.

((We locate their sources of Kandrona)) Torfan said.

"Good, so the Pool ship is a big supplier. We can't touch that yet, not without space-capability, so that leaves Yeerk pools on the planet's surface, for now." I continued.

((You have told us nothing we did not already know)) Dr. Helaine interrupted.

I held up my finger, "Not finished. So, we need to locate a pool, and knock out the kandrona generator. I see two problems; first, how do we find a Yeerk pool, and second, where do we find easily portable explosives with enough bang to do the job?"

I looked at the Andalites expectantly, but they just stared at each other.

"Listen," Jett suggested.

"_Exactly_," I said smugly.

((Perhaps you will _enlighten_ us?)) Dr. Helaine asked sarcastically.

I shrugged, "People are always talking to each other. Yeerks do it too, but they probably are using communicators, not telephones. Now, every three days, they have to be at the Yeerk pool. So, if we had some way to pin-point yeerk carrier signals, and then see where most of the signals meet… well… there's a yeerk pool somewhere in that cluster," I said.

((It… would be crude. The signals would no doubt be spread over a wide area…)) Dr. Helaine mused.

"But at least it gives us an area small enough to start a search," I pointed out.

((Actually… I believe I may have a better solution)) a voice said hesitantly.

I turned to look over my shoulder. Sonili hovered by the hatch to the cockpit nervously.

"Okay… what is it?" I asked.

((I've been searching through the ship's files and logs… which has familiarized me with Yeerk programming and source coding. I may be able to introduce a program that will make their communicators send out an intermittent pulse at regular intervals. We can trace their path, and see where the paths intersect)) Sonili suggested.

((How do you plan to introduce the virus to their communicators?)) Dr. Helaine asked stiffly.

((I would have to upload the virus onto a yeerk communicator. From there, any Yeerk communicator that receives a transmission from the infected device will also acquire the virus. Any communicators contacted will in turn acquire the virus… so on and so forth))

Sonili explained.

"That's… brilliant," I said.

((What about counter encryption and security countermeasures?)) Esplin asked.

((Rejoining society?)) I teased.

((Shut-up. I'll slip back out in a minute)) Esplin said tensely.

"Actually, Esplin is worried about counter encryption and security-countermeasures," I interrupted.

((I could make the program look like a software bug, or a calibration error. If I keep the operational duration short, say… three days, with sporadic transmissions… perhaps eighteen bursts per day, it shouldn't cause undo alarm, especially if the problem resolves itself)) Sonili suggested.

((Will that work?)) I asked.

Esplin thought about it for a few minutes.

((Let me speak)) Esplin asked.

((Okay))

"It should work… but make the operational duration variable as well, use a Sine wave, as well as inverted Sine waves too. Also, don't have every transmission spread the virus, make the transmission just as random as the other factors. If there is _any_ discernible pattern, the Yeerks will notice, if they have a competent security officer," Esplin warned.

((We will take your suggestions under advisement, _parasite_)) Dr. Helaine sneered.

I snatched back my speech before Esplin could reply, and she vented her tirade silently in my head.

"Be nice. She's only an Andalite," I cajoled, but Esplin wasn't listening. She detached away from my pain, still snarling things in _galard_.

"So, how soon can we start bugging their communicators?" I asked brightly.

Torfan looked at Dr. Helaine, then Sonili.

((Give me an hour)) Sonili said, quietly logging into a computer terminal. At that point, Jett marched me back to the cabin, and reluctantly, I did sleep, as I'd promised.

**Sonili-Esth-Fastil:**

It took me forty-five minutes to fully compile a virus, using repurposed lines from an actual Yeerk communication program, just out of order. I didn't add any additional lines of code, so even if a Yeerk technician pulled the malicious program apart, piece by piece, there wouldn't be anything identifiable as _non-_Yeerk. I contemplated the completed virus for a moment. Yeerk computer programming was very similar to Andalite programming… understandable, since their first taste of computers came from stolen Andalite ships.

I downloaded a copy of the virus onto a portable datapad. Mother and Torfan were still in their _private_ meeting. I quietly left the cockpit. Mother would never approve, but I wanted to have a second opinion. In _theory_, the program was sound, but this was my first attempt.

"Come on, Jett, I took a nap. I need to _move_, now," Jacob complained.

"No. Jah-kob stay, sleep more," the Hork-bajir growled.

"I'm not tired enough to sleep, Jett, without painkillers. I'll just run down to the med-bay. In and out. No one will know," Jacob insisted.

"Jah-kob not sneaky as Jah-kob think right now. Jah-kob sleep," Jett replied.

I entered tentatively, ((Hello, Jacob))

"Hi kid," Jacob said tiredly.

((Umm, could… Esplin take a look at my program?)) I asked hesitantly.

Jacob's eyes defocused for several seconds, then he focused on my face again, "She's being kind of terse, right now," he said.

((So… no?)) I clarified.

"Oh come on Esplin— no, I won't. We owe her a little— that's hardly her fault!" Jacob snarled, looking off at the wall. He whispered other things quietly under his breath, finally, he gave up and looked at me, "Esplin's free floating, to keep away from the pain. She can't block it out, or get distracted from it," he explained.

((But, why is that?)) I asked curious.

Jacob shrugged, "It's simple. Most nervous systems can only handle so many messages at once, so when we get _distracted_, the number of messages being transmitted exceeds capacity, so some things get lost… but for a Yeerk, they're connected to every nerve ending, and they _can_ channel all of the messages."

((Oh. That is simple))

Jacob scratched at his stubble in irritation, "I can take a look, if you want."

((Thank you, Jacob, but, I need a Yeerk's point of view)) I said awkwardly. Jacob smiled, "Touché." He looked off to the side, then back at me, "Actually, Esplin will do it, on one condition."

I perked up, ((What does she want?))

Jacob chuckled, "She'll look at the program, but she wants a pain killer first."

I shifted uncomfortably. ((Mother said—))

"Hello Sonili, this is Esplin," Jacob said, his tone and inflection changing subtly.

((Oh, hello)) I said, off-balance.

"An anti-inflammatory will be sufficient. It doesn't have to be a full analgesic," the Yeerk assured me.

((Why are you speaking, and not Jacob?)) I asked, curious.

"We're experimenting," Esplin replied softly, and Jacob's eyes softened strangely.

((Alright…)) I said slowly.

"Please hurry," Esplin requested.

((()))

My mother was still in the cockpit, so no one challenged me in the med-bay. I carefully looked through mother's kit, and took only what I needed. I bumped into mother leaving.

((Sonili?! What were you—?)) my mother stammered, startled.

((I was… looking for you)) I lied.

((Can we speak later, I have to—)) my mother started to say.

((Crashed on a backwater planet, with nothing to do, and yet you still have no time for your own daughter)) I whispered bitterly. I shoved through the door, and out of sight, keeping my eyes ahead. I refused to look back at her with even a single stalk-eye.

I stormed back into Jacob's cabin, and handed the vial to Jacob, as well as the datapad.

"You look, disgruntled," Esplin said hesitantly.

"You look pissed," Jacob corrected.

((It is nothing. Please check my program, Esplin)) I said tersely.

Jacob administered the anti-inflammatory, in the correct dosage, into his left brachial artery. Within a few minutes, he visibly relaxed as the pain diminished slightly.

Esplin paged through the lines of my code, furrowing Jacob's brow. I waited patiently, and within ten minutes my… friend… finished her analysis,

"It looks fine, except for lines fifty-seven through sixty. This cache command, its Yeerk programming, but arranged using an Andalite sequence,"

I took the pad back, and looked at the problem. She was right. I readjusted the programming, and handed it back to Esplin.

"Good… yes, this will work."

((I'll go show my mother then))

"Wait, Sonili," Esplin called.

I paused, reluctantly, ((Yes?))

"Jacob and I will listen, whenever you're ready to talk about what you were really dreaming about,"

I nodded hastily, ((Thank you)) and fled the cabin.

**Helaine-Mtalenon-Ashul:**

We dug a small tunnel through the snow, leading to the surface. Naturally, the human thought it entertaining, especially when throwing packed lumps of snow at us when we least expected it, despite only using one arm. He told me to "live a little" after I berated him for his poor conduct. We used the tarps to maintain the integrity of the tunnel, as well as lengths of piping, cut to the correct lengths. I did not relish the thought of a collapse.

Sonili handed me a corrupted Yeerk communicator carefully. ((Remember, turn all of our communication devices off at the designated time, until you finish isolating them from the virus)) I reminded her.

((Yes mother, I know))

((Torfan and I should return in a week)) I continued. We did not take the human vehicle, instead, we morphed into _owls_, which we had acquired earlier, after stunning one roosting in a tree. We would be able to move much faster through the air, than over the uneven terrain. In 167:52 hours, the communicator would begin broadcasting the virus to anything in range. Sonili had physically rigged it to look like a locator beacon that had malfunctioned, but had recently received a physical jolt that had _jogged_, the circuit, so that the beacon began to transmit as it had been intended.

The Yeerk reassured me that losing communicators happened more frequently than one might think, due to their small size. However, if a communicator was lost, it could be pinged remotely, and would broadcast a homing beacon, allowing for its retrieval. Elsewhere, such a thing was mere convenience, but on this planet, keeping their presence secret would make the feature indispensable.

It had taken the Yeerk, and my daughter nearly an hour to sabotage a communicator to their satisfaction. The same communicator which weighed less than a quarter of a kilogram, yet now felt like ten times its weight in my talons.

The plan was to fly as far south as possible, before hiding the communicator among the commercial products of a long-range transport vehicle, the human had called _semi's_, and _eighteen-wheelers_ interchangeably. I used the internet to find a picture of our target.

Hopefully, it would look like a Controller had carelessly lost their communicator, perhaps while inspecting cargo or some such, and the beacon had malfunctioned. With any luck, the yeerks would hastily recover the device, never realizing that it was infecting their own communicators.

((Sir, I have a question)) _aristh_ Torfan said hesitantly.

((Speak your mind, Torfan)) I replied.

((I understand why Jacob wishes to fight the Yeerks on his homeworld, but I cannot grasp why the Yeerk does as well))

((Why do you believe the Yeerk?)) I asked in counter point.

Torfan was silent for several minutes, only the wind behind us could be heard, forcing us south at speeds we would never have been able to maintain otherwise.

((I cannot explain it sir… but I believe the human and Yeerk truly are allies… of each other, and us as well)) Torfan admitted.

I sighed, withdrawing a little more from the owl's primitive mind, letting it automatically adjust my tail feathers, to capitalize on the tail-wind.

((I see things that do not make sense, unless the Yeerk is being truthful, but I cannot accept such a possibility, because if I am wrong…)) I trailed off.

((I understand sir)) Torfan replied, ((But I am certain of one thing. Jacob will never intentionally allow harm to come to your daughter, or break his word to her))

I considered the sentiment, and found that I could not disbelieve such either.

The human might dislike, probably even hate me, but he would do anything my daughter asked. But he had still ruined her promising career, and my own, by necessity. I owed him _nothing_.

**Jacob Nyles:**

"What are you doing?" I asked, curious.

Sonili looked up from the computer, ((I am introducing a virus onto your _internet_, which will drain a very small amount of currency from every single account linked to the internet, if detected, it will look like an accounting error, or computer glitch)) she explained.

"I didn't know you were an expert of human computers," I said carefully.

((I'm not, but these computers barely warrant the name)) Sonili giggled.

"Careful, or I'll whip out my abacus and beat you to death with it," I growled.

((That comparison is quite apt)) the Andalite smirked, ((For example, your computers are still using _binary_, which only utilizes a simple switch, on/off. Even Yeerk computers use all 32 states of the electron!))

"Only because they stole the technology from you," I pointed out, "Give humans the same start, and we'll be on the same level as the Yeerks in a few years…"

Our argument apparently became unpalatable to the girland she politely disengaged. With nothing else to distract me, I wandered the ship for…

((Seven minutes)) Esplin supplied helpfully.

((That's all? Not fifteen?)) I asked.

((Eight now)) Esplin said.

((Let's go back and bug her some more)) I said, without anything better to do.

((()))

I found Sonili playing with the computer still, but now she was combing through data files of some kind. ((Oh, hello Jacob, I didn't see you)) she said in apology.

"Technically, that should be really hard to accomplish," I said wryly, gesturing to her stalk-eyes.

((Mmm)) she mumbled, returning her attention to the display, and all four eyes.

"What are you doing now?" I asked, curious.

((Lately I have noticed that mother is acting… strangely. She's been more evasive than normal, and is spending a _lot_ of time in the medical bay's research lab. At first, I thought she was sulking, after—))

Jett had told us what had happened, "After she took a swing at you," I supplied, softly.

((Yes))

Esplin perked right up. She thrived on intrigue, and secrets.

((Whereas you thrive only on humor and direct confrontation)) Esplin retorted.

((Yes Esplin, together, we will rule the galaxy!)) I deadpanned, before laughing.

((When do we start?)) Esplin replied dryly.

"So… what are you doing right now?" I asked, trying to keep from distraction.

((For some reason, my mother has disabled internal monitoring in the lab))

"That is… really suspicious," I allowed. _Sort of._

((Exactly. What could she possibly be doing that no one else can know about?)) Sonili asked darkly.

I didn't answer that. She was just a kid.

((I doubt Andalites need… _alone _time, Jacob)) Esplin chuckled.

((I make no assumptions)) I replied defensively.

((Yes you do)) the Yeerk answered dismissively.

"Again, what are you doing?" I asked.

((I am attempting to bypass the command block my mother installed. If I can do it without alerting the safeguards she left in place, I should be able to use the internal scanner to see what she was doing in the lab)) Sonili whispered to me.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," I said.

((At least find out what it is when she finishes)) Esplin complained.

((I'll _ask_)) I hedged.

((Fine…)) Esplin sighed.

We paced through the halls, and snuck into the med-bay (force of habit, even though there wasn't anyone to stop us) for another vial of meds, since our arm was beginning to become unmanageable again.

((Now what should we do?)) Esplin pondered.

((Got any… sixes?)) I asked slyly.

((_No_. I refuse to play that _insipid_ game one more time!)) Esplin snarled.

((Okay; I spy with my little—))

((Jacob, _shut up_))


End file.
